Gary Gensler plans to resign from SEC in January

(Bloomberg) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler plans to resign on Jan. 20, as his ambitious agenda faces fierce resistance from Wall Street and the cryptocurrency industry.

“The Securities and Exchange Commission is an incredible agency,” Gensler said in a statement Thursday. “The staff and committee are mission-driven and focused on protecting investors, promoting capital formation and ensuring markets work for investors and issuers.”

His departure will leave the SEC to an acting chairman, expected to be Mark Uyeda or Hester Peirce, both Republican commissioners.

Gensler, a self-described “market man” appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021, has pursued an aggressive agenda focused on climate risk disclosures, stock trading reforms and cracking down on cryptocurrency violations. Some of his provisions will leave a lasting mark on the financial industry. Others have been stymied by conservative courts.

The incoming SEC chairman under the Trump administration may try to further relax Gensler’s signature rules and adopt a more crypto-friendly approach to enforcement.

Gensler’s policy achievements include speeding up settlement times for U.S. stock trades and a new rule that will increase trading volume in the U.S. Treasury market by trillions of dollars a day. Corporate insiders also face stricter disclosures and rules on stock sales.

However, some pillars of Gensler’s agenda face legal challenges.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued sweeping rules in March calling on companies to disclose detailed information about their greenhouse gas emissions and how climate change affects their profits. The agency froze the rules in April after multiple lawsuits.

A federal judge on Thursday blocked new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules that would have required some Wall Street firms to register as dealers in the Treasury market. Hedge funds sued in March to block the rules, saying they were too broad and could harm the market.

“His tenure should be considered very ambitious in terms of the range of issues he wants to focus on,” said Tyler Gellasch, president of the Healthy Markets Association, which A trade group that includes pension funds and other institutions. “This agenda was met first with the onslaught of litigation.”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under Trump may ease enforcement against brokers, banks and hedge funds using third-party messaging apps to communicate. The digital asset industry may experience dramatic changes in policy.

Gensler has relentlessly pursued cryptocurrency fraudsters and companies such as Coinbase Global Inc. and proprietary trading giant DRW Holdings that failed to register with the agency. The industry pushed back strongly, saying he offered no real way for emerging asset classes to fit into decades-old structures.

Gensler has often been criticized by the industry for clamping down on the market rather than clarifying how to comply with the rules.

“My mom always told me that if I don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” After Gensler announced his upcoming departure, Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal wrote on X: “So I won’t be doing this again. It’s over. ”

Trump embraced cryptocurrencies during his campaign and told supporters earlier this year that he would fire Gensler “on day one.”

Bloomberg reported earlier this month that Robinhood Markets Inc. legal director Dan Gallagher, former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins and Willkie Farr & Gallagher partner Robert Stebbins were considered potential choices by Trump to lead the agency.

–With help from Ben Bain.

(Update for details on Gensler’s policies and response to departures.)

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