Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Crypto Industry Helps Trump Select SEC Chairman

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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 night. “I will appoint an SEC chairman who will build the future, not block it,” Trump said.

Last week, Gensler announced that he would resign from his office on January 20, Trump’s inauguration day. Representatives of the industry where Gensler was so reviled are now helping to select his successor, sources tell WIRED.

The SEC’s review promise was one of many Trump made to the crypto industry during the campaign. At the Nashville conference, he pledged to establish the United States as a leading bitcoin mining power, create a national “Bitcoin stockpile” and establish a framework for stablecoin businesses, singing from the cryptocurrency anthem.

In June, Trump did just that hosted executives from the cryptocurrency mining industry at Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Florida. “We had a very long and in-depth discussion with him, he was very interested. He was very engaged and asked important questions,” says Brian Morgenstern, head of public policy at bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms and a former official in the first Trump administration, who was present.

Trump has even started dabbling in cryptocurrencies himself. Over the summer, his campaign began accepting cryptocurrency donations, and his sons launched their own cryptocurrency platform, World Liberty Financial, which he helped promote. Last Thursday – reported the New York Times. that Truth Social, Trump’s social media company, has filed a trademark application for a so-called crypto payment service called TruthFi.

People associated with the cryptocurrency industry have already been appointed to Trump’s cabinet. His pick for Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, heads Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services company that manages the assets of Tether, the operator of the world’s largest stablecoin. Likewise, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, appointed Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-chair of the fresh Department of Government Effectiveness, expressed pro-crypto views.

“Based on what I have heard in private conversations, my perspective is that the incoming administration is very serious about its bitcoin and cryptocurrency campaign promises and intends to conduct a robust evaluation of optimization options [appointments to regulatory positions] as best they can,” says Christopher Calicott, managing director at bitcoin-focused VC firm Trammell Venture Partners.

Bitcoin price has reached record heightsjust over $100,000 per coin since Trump won re-election earlier this month.

“The entire industry will have much brighter prospects on many different fronts,” says Morgenstern. “We have no reason to doubt President Trump.”

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