The race for the SEC Chair position during President Donald Trump’s second term is heating up. Traders on Kashi are indicating a preference for Brian Brooks, the former CEO of Binance US and ex-legal chief of Coinbase. Brooks is currently leading the poll with a 40% chance, closely followed by Robinhood’s Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher, who is pegged at a 30% probability.
Brian Brooks is no stranger to governmental roles, having served as Acting Director of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) during Trump’s first term. He is reportedly being considered for multiple financial agency roles beyond the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), according to a source who spoke with FOX Business journalist Eleanor Terrett. These potential roles could span across the SEC, the OCC, the Federal Reserve and other financial regulatory agencies.
Brooks has responded to the support he has received from the crypto community with enthusiasm. “Whoever [Donald Trump] appoints as SEC chair won’t be starting from scratch. In his last administration, President Trump built the infrastructure for two ATH cycles,” he stated. While he has put forth four proposals for how crypto should be regulated following a potential change in SEC chairmanship, Brooks has refrained from commenting on ongoing speculation.
Dan Gallagher, a pro-crypto figure like Brooks, initially held the lead with odds hitting a high of above 70% last week. However, Brooks began to gain traction earlier this week. Gallagher was reportedly shortlisted by Trump’s transition team to succeed SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
The list of candidates includes Robert Stebbins, former General Counsel for the SEC, and Hester Pierce and Mark Uyeda, the current SEC commissioners. Uyeda was the early frontrunner to succeed Gensler. However, Jake Chervinsky, Chief Legal Officer at Variant, suggests that Trump would likely choose his own candidate rather than select from the existing commissioners.
The candidacy of Stebbins has raised eyebrows amongst some industry leaders. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has expressed concerns over Stebbins’ past involvement in regulatory actions, particularly those related to Ethereum, speculating that his appointment could result in a continuation of the “regulation by enforcement” approach that has been contentious within the crypto industry.
As the race for the SEC Chair position continues, the crypto community will be watching closely to see who will likely be steering the regulatory ship in the near future.
