Likely after Crenshaw fails to win renomination from Senate
December 19, 2024
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee has officially dropped its efforts to renominate Caroline Crenshaw as commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Her term will now expire in January, leaving a vacancy at the vital financial regulatory body.
By tradition, no more than three of the five commissioners can belong to the same party, so Crenshaw's replacement must be a Democrat.
Crenshaw leaves opportunity at SEC
Caroline Crenshaw, the SEC commissioner and anti-cryptocurrency political activist, has run into trouble in the U.S. Senate. In early December, an attempt to renominate her to the SEC faced a fierce backlash. The matter was then complicated by procedural hurdles and the adjournment of Congress into the new year.
However, according to the latest reports, her defeat has now been confirmed.
“This is why people hate Washington. Corporate special interests have run a disgusting smear campaign against Caroline Crenshaw, a public servant nominated and confirmed by a Republican president and a Republican Senate,” claimed Sherrod Brown, an anti-crypto senator who also recently failed to win reelection.
During her tenure, Crenshaw was a close ally of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. However, Gensler will resign in January and be replaced by Paul Atkins, who has a new pro-crypto outlook.
There are only five commissioners on the body, and industry supporters can fill two additional spots. According to established procedures, one of those must be a Democrat.
There are already reportedly a few names floating around for potential new Democratic candidates. Fox Business claims Chris Brummer is a strong favorite. Brummer is a Georgetown University law professor who nearly became chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2021.
Another favorite is Tuangfei Lee, general counsel of crypto bank Anchorage Digital, who made a notable donation to an industry-friendly senator’s 2022 campaign.
The list of potential candidates also includes Jay Mesay, chief legal officer at LightsPark, a blockchain company active in Latin America, and Karla Carriveau, special counsel to the New York Department of Financial Services.
Regardless of which of these potential SEC candidates gets formally nominated to replace Crenshaw, industry momentum is building.
For example, yesterday, Crypto.com dropped its lawsuit against SEC after its CEO met with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss key appointments. There is clearly a lot of optimism in the crypto community over these political developments.