Robinhood’s chief legal officer (CLO), Dan Gallagher, could be the top candidate to lead the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) if presidential candidate Donald Trump wins the upcoming 2024 presidential election, Politico reported Monday.
Gallagher previously served as a Republican SEC commissioner from 2011 to 2015. Before that, he was counsel to SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, handling matters related to the agency’s enforcement and trading divisions. In recent years, he has criticized the agency’s regulatory stance on crypto assets.
Donald Trump to Fire SEC Chair Gary on Day One
The recent report comes after Donald Trump made headlines with his promises to make Bitcoin great again, ensure the federal government holds bitcoin, and fire SEC chair Gary Gensler on day one.
Trump revealed that if he is elected as president for the second time, he will make many adjustments to fit the masses’ demands, including eliminating ten old regulations for every new regulation.
Other potential candidates to replace Gensler, should Trump be elected, include former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo, former SEC General Counsel Robert Stebbins, and current Republican SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce. According to Axios, Peirce has announced her intention to leave the agency when her term concludes in 2025.
SEC vs. Crypto
Over the years, tension between the SEC and the crypto industry has grown. The regulator has repeatedly warned that crypto exchanges must register with the agency, claiming that most crypto assets qualify as securities.
The securities watchdog has filed numerous lawsuits against prominent crypto firms, such as Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, and others, for alleged violations of securities laws.
Gensler’s tenure has seen a push to bring many crypto assets under the securities umbrella. The SEC chief recently came under fire, where congress members labeled him the most destructive SEC chair.
Gensler was accused of inventing the term ‘crypto asset security’ and never provided a framework for defining crypto assets.
