Gary Gensler named chair of the SEC

The U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination put forward by President Joe Biden for Gary Gensler to head the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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In March, Gensler spoke positively about blockchain, bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. He also called digital gold ‘a catalyst for change’.

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\”Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have brought new thinking to payments and the accessibility of financial services, but they have also raised new investor-protection questions that we still need to address,\” said Gensler.

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The new head of the SEC pledged, if confirmed, to work on ‘promoting innovation’.

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Gensler served as head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) during Barack Obama’s presidency and was remembered for a tough regulatory stance. He oversaw major reforms of the derivatives market under the Dodd–Frank Act of 2010.

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Before joining President Biden’s team, the new SEC head worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a professor of global economics at the business school and as a senior adviser to the MIT Media Lab’s initiative on digital currencies.

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Earlier, former SEC chair Jay Clayton left the post on December 23, 2020, with Elad Roisman serving as acting chair.

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