The top U.S. securities regulator, who has been aggressive in his oversight of cryptocurrencies during the Biden administration, will step down in January when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Since taking the lead at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), chair Gary Gensler has led the U.S. government's crackdown on the crypto industry and repeatedly called for more oversight.
Gensler pushed for changes that he said protected for investors, but the industry and many Republicans bristled at what they saw as overreach.
Trump championed bitcoin and the crypto industry in the run-up to the election and had promised during his campaign that he would remove Gensler "on day one."
He reportedly paid with bitcoin for burgers he bought for his supporters at a New York bar.
However, Gensler announced on Thursday that he would be stepping down from his post on Jan. 20, the day that Trump will be inaugurated.
Bitcoin has jumped 40% since Trump's victory. Bitcoin has jumped 40% since Trump's victory. It hit new highs and was nearing $100,000 Thursday.
It moved notably higher after Gensler's resignation was announced.
Meanwhile, Trump's team is holding discussions with the digital asset industry about whether to create a new White House post solely dedicated to crypto policy, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
The team is vetting candidates for the role, the report said, citing people familiar with the transition efforts. A dedicated crypto post at the White House would be another major win for an industry that has moved from the fringes to the mainstream in years.
Perhaps most famously, Gensler gave a speech during the first year of his chairmanship in 2021 where he described the world of crypto as "the Wild West."
"This asset class is rife with fraud, scams, and abuse in certain applications," he said in a speech at the Aspen Security Forum. "There's a great deal of hype and spin about how crypto assets work. In many cases, investors aren't able to get rigorous, balanced, and complete information."
Under Gensler, the SEC brought actions against players in the crypto industry for fraud, wash trading and other violations. The commission brought fraud charges last month, for example, against three companies purporting to be market makers, along with nine individuals for trying to manipulate various crypto markets.
The SEC under Gensler also helped to make bitcoin accessible to more investors. In January of 2024, the SEC approved exchange-traded funds that track the spot price of bitcoin. With such ETFs, investors could get easier access to bitcoin without the huge overlays required for investment.
Gensler served in his position during the SEC's adoption of critical enhancements to the $28 trillion U.S. Treasury markets; the first significant updates to the $55 trillion U.S. equity market in almost 20 years and a number of changes related to corporate governance.
"The staff and the Commission are deeply mission-driven, focused on protecting investors, facilitating capital formation, and ensuring that the markets work for investors and issuers alike," Gensler said in prepared remarks Thursday.
"The staff comprises true public servants. It has been an honor of a lifetime to serve with them on behalf of everyday Americans and ensure that our capital markets remain the best in the world."
Gensler previously served as chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, leading the Obama administration's reform of the $400 trillion swaps market.
He was also senior advisor to U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes in writing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) and was undersecretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance and assistant secretary of the Treasury from 1997-2001.
