TL;DR
- Trump’s pledge to replace SEC Chair Gensler with a pro-crypto leader has sparked excitement across the community.
- Legal experts believe such changes could lead to a faster resolution of the Ripple v. SEC case.
Gensler’s Possible Successor
Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections triggered a massive bull run for the cryptocurrency sector due to his shift from a previously skeptical view to a supportive stance on the asset class. During his campaign, the Republican pledged to make America “the crypto capital of the planet” and proposed creating a strategic BTC reserve.
He also expressed the intention to fire the SEC’s Chairman Gary Gensler on day 1, a promise which triggered huge enthusiasm among the XRP Army. To the uninitiated ones, the Commission and its head have been at war with numerous crypto companies, including Ripple.
Crypto X has been speculating whether the newly-elected president will stick to his promise and wondering who might replace Gensler at the helm of the securities regulator. Eleanor Terrett (a popular journalist at Fox Business) recently claimed she discussed the matter with “a person close to the Trump transition team,” who assured her that the successor “will be someone pro-crypto.”
NEW: I asked a person close to the Trump transition team about some of the names being floated for @SECGov chair and whether views on #crypto would factor into the decision.
The response: “I promise you it will be someone pro-crypto.”
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) November 8, 2024
A new SEC Chairman who is more open to innovation and less inclined to hamper the crypto industry’s advancement by constant legal battles is considered good news not only for those invested in XRP but the entire digital asset market.
The Potential Effect on the Case
Last week, Fred Rispoli (a US attorney who has been following the updates surrounding the Ripple v. SEC lawsuit) argued that the election of Trump could lead to “extreme changes” at the watchdog.
He claimed that the $125 million penalty, which Federal Judge Torres ordered Ripple to pay for violating certain securities laws, is the biggest win the agency can gain. Rispoli also thinks that the SEC’s new potential leadership will “recognize this whole case was idiotic and settle at that point.”
“This might include a reduction in the fine and an agreement that current sales of XRP by Ripple are sufficiently structured to not be investment contracts,“ he added.
The American lawyer Jeremy Hogan chipped in, too. He went even further, forecasting that the new leader of the SEC may dismiss all non-fraud crypto lawsuits filed over the years. Similar to Rispoli, Hogan believes the case could be officially settled for the amount of $125 million:
“It would be…awkward to settle for less than what was already awarded by a Court! The Coinbase and other cases in litigation will simply be dismissed. This will take some time. Not January, but perhaps before summer. That’s my call, and I’m sticking to it.”
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