In July, at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee, Trump promised to fire Gensler if re-elected, prompting perhaps the most raucous applause of the evening. “I will appoint an SEC chairman who will build the future, not block the future,” Trump said.
Last week, Gensler announced he would resign on January 20, the day of Trump's inauguration. Representatives of the industry in which Gensler has become so maligned are now helping pick his successor, sources tell WIRED.
The promise of an SEC overhaul was one of many promises Trump made to the crypto industry during his campaign. At the conference in Nashville, he pledged to cement the US as the main bitcoin mining powerhouse, create a national “bitcoin stock” and set up a framework for stablecoin companies, singing from the crypto anthem sheet.
In June, Trump hosted executives from the crypto mining industry at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort. “We had a very long and in-depth conversation with him – and he was very interested. He was very engaged and asked great questions,” said Brian Morgenstern, head of public policy at bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms and a former official in the first Trump administration, who attended.
Trump has even started to dabble in crypto. Over the summer, his campaign began accepting crypto donations, and his sons launched their own crypto platform, World Liberty Financial, which he helped promote. Last Thursday, The New York Times reported that Trump's social media company, Truth Social, had filed a trademark application for what was described as a crypto payment service called TruthFi.
Figures with ties to the crypto industry have already been appointed to Trump's cabinet. His pick for Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, heads the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, which manages assets for Tether, operator of the world's largest stablecoin. Likewise, newly elected Vice President J.D. Vance, nominee for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and co-leader of the new Department of Government Efficiency Vivek Ramaswamy have all been pro-crypto views expressed.
“Based on what I have heard in private conversations, my perspective has been that the new administration is taking their pro-bitcoin and crypto campaign pledges very seriously and intends to conduct a robust assessment of the options to optimize [appointments to regulatory positions] as best they can,” said Christopher Calicott, director of Bitcoin-focused VC firm Trammell Venture Partners.
The price of bitcoin has soared to record highs, just under $100,000 per coin, since Trump was re-elected earlier this month.
“The entire sector will have much better prospects on a number of different fronts,” says Morgenstern. “We have no reason to doubt President Trump.”
