The US Senate Banking Committee has formerly scrapped its effort to re-nominate Caroline Crenshaw as an SEC Commissioner. Her tenure will now end in January, leaving a vacancy in this critical finance regulator.
By tradition, no more than three of the five Commissioners can belong to the same party. Therefore, Crenshaw’s replacement must be a Democrat.
Crenshaw Leaves Opportunity at SEC
Caroline Crenshaw, SEC Commissioner and anti-crypto political advocate, has been facing trouble with the US Senate. In early December, an attempt to re-nominate her to the SEC faced severe backlash. It was subsequently compounded by procedural hurdles and Congress adjourning for the new year.
However, according to the latest reports, her defeat is now confirmed.
“This is why people hate Washington. Corporate special interests have run a disgusting smear campaign against Caroline Crenshaw, a public servant who has been nominated and confirmed by a Republican President and Republican Senate,” claimed Sherrod Brown, an anti-crypto Senator who also failed to win re-election recently.
Throughout her tenure, Crenshaw was a close ally of Gary Gensler, the SEC’s Chairman. However, Gensler will resign in January, and Paul Atkins will replace him with a new pro-crypto outlook.
There are only five Commissioners in this body, and industry supporters could fill two more spots. According to established procedure, however, one of these must be a Democrat.
Reportedly, there are already a few names of potential new Democratic candidates. Fox Business alleges that Chris Brummer is a strong favorite. Brummer is a Georgetown law professor who nearly became CFTC Chair in 2021.
Another favorite is TuongVy Le, general counsel for crypto bank Anchorage Digital, who prominently donated to an industry ally’s Senate campaign in 2022.
The potential candidate list also includes Jai Messai, the Chief Legal Officer at Lightspark, a blockchain company active in Latin America, and Carla Carriveau, special advisor to the New York Department of Financial Services.
Regardless of which (if any) of these potential SEC candidates receive a formal nomination to replace Crenshaw, the industry’s momentum is building.
Yesterday, for example, Crypto.com dropped its lawsuit against the SEC after its CEO met President-elect Donald Trump to discuss key appointments. Clearly, there is a lot of optimism across the crypto community due to these political developments.