Jessy, Golden Finance

According to a statement released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who was originally scheduled to end his term in June 2026, will expire in 2025. Resigned early on January 20th.

The day he left office was the day Trump took office. Trump has promised to fire "crypto-unfriendly" Gary Gensler if he is elected.

During the tenure of this very combative chairman, the SEC once again tightened its attitude towards the encryption industry and launched a series of high-profile lawsuits against encryption companies. Gary Gensler believes that most cryptocurrencies are Securities, want to promote compliance through a series of enforcement actions. But on the other hand, during his tenure, Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs were also passed one after another.

Golden Finance sorted out his resume and policy philosophy and found that during his tenure at the SEC, this traditional financial elite was not happy to see the brutal development of the encryption industry, but was happy to see encryption become a part of traditional finance.

Professed to be neutral on the blockchain

The earliest relationship between Gensler and the encryption industry should have started in 2018, when Gensler Taught at MIT and taught a blockchain-related course. The course delved into the technical issues of blockchain and explored the potential impact this technology would have on the law and investors. . His class gave the impression that he was neutral and curious about blockchain.

After he became the chairman of the SEC, some people expected him to have more forward-looking thinking on the issue of virtual currency.

However, after Gensler became chairman of the SEC, his attitude changed.

In 2022, the encryption industry fell into a trough, and a series of projects such as Luna and FTX collapsed. The SEC has also launched a major lawsuit against the encryption industry. The scope of the lawsuit has also spread from companies to individuals. For example, it has filed lawsuits against celebrities such as Kardashian on the grounds that they "bring goods" virtual currencies online without disclosing their actual It's a paid endorsement. More widely known are the lawsuits filed by the SEC against several cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Binance and Coinbase, and others against some encryption projects, such as Luna's parent, Ripple, BlockFi, etc. When it comes to stablecoins and staking services, during Gary Gensler’s tenure, the SEC expressed its attitude towards stablecoins and staking services: Stablecoins may be securities and require registration: In 2023, the SEC accused Kraken of not registering its staking services as securities. Kraken paid a $30 million fine as a result.

The advancement of a series of lawsuits against the encryption industry is actually the clarification of the SEC’s regulatory intentions.. According to Fortune Magazine, every time Gensler attended a congressional hearing, he kept saying the same thing over and over again on the issue of virtual currencies - "Come and file."

He has also directly pointed out in public many times that cryptocurrency is "riddled with fraud, scams, bankruptcies and money laundering."

Under such strong supervision by Gensler, what is surprising is that in 2024, the SEC successively approved spot ETFs for Bitcoin and Ethereum, which undoubtedly injected a boost into the development of encryption.

The above seemingly contradictory behaviors are actually all based on the same logic, which is to bring encryption under the supervision of the United States.

Gensler’s attitude and actions towards the encryption industry are basically in line with Biden’s policy philosophy. Strengthening supervision itself is one of Biden’s main strategies.

Traditional financial elites with strong skills

In addition to the encryption industry, Gensler’s other achievements during his tenure at the SEC generally include the following aspects: promoting the reform of the financial market structure, proposing restrictions on the flow of payment orders, etc. High-frequency trading behavior to improve market fairness; advocate strengthening companies’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure requirements and improve market transparency: increase the crackdown on market manipulation, insider trading and other behaviors, etc.

In the face of the development of emerging technologies, he has shown a paternalistic desire for protection. This is true in the encryption industry, and it is also true in the AI ​​industry. He is concerned about the impact of financial companies' use of artificial intelligence and algorithms on customer behavior. and looking at how to regulate this technology to protect consumers.

The above can be simply summarized as strengthening the supervision of financial markets and protecting the interests of investors, especially in response to emerging technologies and emergencies.

Tackling climate change is one of Gensler’s most high-profile new policies. The move is consistent with Biden’s efforts to combat climate change, but it has triggered strong opposition from industry. Companies have said the requirements are harsh and suspected of being unconstitutional.

The iron-fisted supervision of the encryption industry and the strict energy-saving and emission-reduction requirements for industry in response to climate change have been opposed by relevant stakeholders.

The next President Trump said during the campaign that he would elect a crypto-friendly SEC chairman who would also relax restrictions on fossil fuels and relax the permitting process for drilling on federal lands. and other measures to increase U.S. oil and natural gas production.

As can be seen from the above, some of Gensler's policies will be abolished after Trump takes office.

For the encryption industry, under his tenure, the supervision of the encryption industry in the United States was basically established. It was based on the original intention of protecting investors and maintaining market stability, and the rapid development and risk accumulation in the encryption market "These are necessary and urgent in the context ofThe direction of regulation feels uncertain. Uncertainty is not conducive to the development of an industry. For enterprises, without clear rules, enterprises do not know what to do and what not to do, which seriously restricts the development of enterprises. Under such policy policies, some encryption companies have moved from the United States to places with more complete and clear encryption regulations, such as Singapore and Dubai.

A detail that confirms this is that the SEC filed a lawsuit against Coinbase for unregistered securities, and another case was also going on at the same time. Coinbase filed a rule-making lawsuit with the SEC. At that time, when Coinbase asked the SEC to draft comprehensive rules for the cryptocurrency industry, the SEC rejected its request. Coinbase subsequently filed a legal lawsuit, calling the SEC's rejection "arbitrary and capricious"

Gensler has a very combative side in his character. Perhaps it is this character base that makes him extremely powerful. regulatory measures. When Obama was president, he served as the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Some colleagues commented that at that time, Gensler showed great ambition and was eager to promote various projects. Earlier, he worked at Goldman Sachs. When he was thirty years old, he became one of the youngest bankers among Goldman Sachs partners. After leaving Goldman Sachs, Gensler entered the political arena, serving successively as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Finance.

After sorting through Gensler’s resume and policy philosophy, it is not difficult to find that he only made a series of actions in line with the interests of the United States. He was a traditional financial elite and had curiosity and doubts about encryption technology. and disdain, but he couldn't resist the development of the times.

During his tenure, he focused on strict law enforcement actions against encryption and did not proactively promote legislation to make it compliant and develop, demonstrating his conservatism. The approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs is just a sign that the water has already reached 98 degrees and he is pushing the boat forward. The deeper reason may be that he, who represents the interests of the traditional financial elite, does not like uncontrolled encryption, but is happy to see encryption become a part of traditional finance.