A day after Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler announced that he plans to resign once Donald Trump is sworn in as president, another Democrat on the five-member Commission announced Friday that he is also stepping down.
Jaime Lizárraga, who has served as an SEC commissioner since 2022, said today that he will step down from his role on January 17, 2025, and has already informed President Joe Biden of those plans. Gensler is set to depart three days later on January 20.
Lizárraga, whose term would have otherwise lasted until 2027, said the decision to step down was primarily motivated by his wife’s serious illness.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler to Resign When Trump Retakes White House
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler announced his resignation Thursday, throwing in the towel on efforts to reign in the digital assets industry. After leading the regulator's crypto crackdown against many major industry players, Gensler said Thursday that he will resign on January 20, 2025 as Donald Trump begins his second term, following his recent election win. “The Securities and Exchange Commission is a remarkable agency,” said Gensler, in a statement. “The staff and...
While the development means that the SEC will lose another supporter of Gensler’s aggressive crypto agenda, it is also somewhat limited in its impact. The SEC, by design, does not allow for more than three of its five commissioners to come from the same political party.
Thus, though only one Democrat on the Commission, Caroline Crenshaw, currently appears likely to remain in her role once Trump retakes the White House, the president-elect will have to appoint another Democrat to fill out the agency’s vacant non-Republican spot.
Trump has done this before. In 2019, during his first term, he appointed Allison Lee, a Democrat, to fill a Democratic vacancy on the Commission.
Who Is Most Likely to Replace Gary Gensler After Trump Takes Office?
Crypto industry antagonist Gary Gensler’s days as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair are numbered. Gensler's last day will be on January 20, 2025 as Donald Trump takes office, as announced last week, with the departure expected one way or another following Trump's win. The president-elect is poised to hammer home one of his most popular crypto promises made earlier this year. At least, that's what many in the industry are hoping for. “I will fire Gary Gensler on day one,” Trump decl...
Regardless, the SEC requires only a majority vote of three commissioners to move forward on key issues, and the Republican president-elect will certainly have three members of his own party on the Commission come next year.
The largest outstanding question regarding Trump’s SEC will be who he appoints as the financial regulator’s chair—a crucial role that will shape the agency’s approach to hot-button issues including crypto.
Trump has pledged to create a pro-crypto regulatory environment, and some in the industry have expressed hope that one of their own might run the SEC to ensure such an outcome.
Gary Gensler Is Leaving the SEC, But Robinhood Exec Dan Gallagher Doesn't Want the Job
Robinhood Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher isn’t interested in serving as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), expressing content with his current role at the popular investing platform. "It is always an honor to have your name in the mix for an incredibly important job like SEC Chairman,” Gallagher told Decrypt in a statement. “However, I have made it clear that I do not wish to be considered for this position.” Gallagher’s statement follows SEC Chair Gary Gensler...
On Friday, however, one of the top crypto-friendly contenders for SEC chair, Robinhood Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher, announced he was withdrawing his name from consideration for the post.
Other leading candidates for the position currently include Brian Brooks, the former CEO of Binance.US and acting comptroller of the currency, and the two current Republicans already on the SEC, Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
