Crypto firms push for SEC changes, crypto out of courts
2024-11-14

With Donald Trump’s reelection and a Republican majority in the Senate, crypto firms are ready to advocate for a “fresh perspective” on federal agencies. 
Ripple, one of the crypto companies engaged in battle courts with United States regulators, expects the new White House administration to remove digital assets’ policy from the courts, hoping for changes within government agencies: 
“The SEC is a bureaucracy, but policy is people, and people is policy. So hopefully, if you change some of the leadership at the SEC, we can start seeing a more rational approach to what they have been pursuing,” Ripple’s chief legal officer, Stuart Alderoty, told Cointelegraph’s policy reporter Turner Wright in an exclusive interview.
Coinbase’s chief legal officer ​​Paul Grewal made a similar call following Trump’s victory on Nov. 6. “Stop suing crypto,” he noted on an X post. Coinbase and Ripple were among the largest donors to pro-crypto candidates in this election.
The appeals for a new administration at the SEC echo a key Trump pledge to crypto voters: ousting on day one the agency’s chair, Gary Gensler. Under Gensler’s administration, the Commission brought enforcement actions to several crypto firms, mainly over the classification of digital assets as securities.
Ripple has been embroiled in litigation with the SEC since 2020, when the agency challenged the status of its native token, XRP. In May 2023, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the company expected to spend up to $200 million on defending itself.
“They [the SEC] have spent an awful lot of time and money bringing enforcement cases based on their strict liability theory that certain crypto assets [...] are securities and should be registered with the SEC. That’s not something that should be dealt with in the courts. That’s a policy issue. It’s a legislative issue,” noted Alderoty. 
Once President Trump has the authority to remove the SEC Chair, but the process would require a justifiable cause and receive Senate approval while Gensler’s appointment is in place until 2026. 
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce is speculated as one of his possible substitutes. Peirce’s crypto-friendly approach and public statements against enforcement actions have earned her the nickname “Crypto Mom.”
Although the future leadership of the SEC remains uncertain, Gensler has already hinted at the agency’s new chapter. “Traditionally, presidents get to decide who chairs the SEC, and that’s a good part of democracy,” he told The Wall Street Journal.