Gary Gensler’s time as SEC chairman may be coming to an end: who will replace him and what does it mean for crypto?

For the past three years, Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has been the main enemy of crypto companies, whom they accuse of waging an unfair vendetta against the industry. In response, the industry has spent enormous sums on the 2024 elections in an attempt to replace Gensler.

While Republican candidate Donald Trump has done so promised To remove Gensler on day one — which may or may not be possible — there’s a good chance the SEC chairman will be replaced regardless of who wins the White House, as Harris has recently deviated from Biden’s hardline anti-crypto stance and her voice has expressed support for a regulatory framework around digital assets.

While it’s almost a guarantee that Trump will replace Gensler if elected, so will Harris reportedly considering another SEC chairman, raising questions about who that could be – and how they will regulate crypto assets.

Jenice Malecki, chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Securities Arbitration Committee, prosecutes a wide range of security fraud cases and has a growing interest in cases involving crypto.

“It appears that Trump and Harris are both open to crypto investments, perhaps even more so for Trump given some of his policies,” Malecki said.

Malecki told Fortune both of whom she thinks are considering running for chairman, saying Trump could choose Dan Gallagher or Hester Peirce and Harris could choose Chris Brummer or Erica Williams.

If Trump wins

Trump has made pursuing the crypto vote an integral part of his campaign strategy this election cycle, speaking at this year’s Bitcoin conference, launching his own tokens and promise to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet.”

Dan Gallagher worked in various positions at the SEC before being appointed commissioner in 2011, where he held a Republican seat until 2015 under the Obama administration.

He has since leveraged his legal expertise in various capacities in the private sector before landing at Robinhood – a trading platform that offers users a wide range of stocks and crypto assets – where he has served as the platform’s Chief Legal for the past four years. Officer. Like many in the industry, he would like to see Gensler go.

“Rather than issuing rules to provide regulatory certainty to an industry that craves it, the SEC has instead targeted individual companies, including Robinhood, through regulation by enforcement,” Gallagher said. “This is not the way Americans expect our government to work.”

Hester Peirce is another contender who currently serves as SEC commissioner. She was appointed in 2018 under the Trump administration and has repeatedly expressed her displeasure with the SEC’s aggressive approach to crypto.

In an interview with Coin Bureau in May, Pierce said she thinks the SEC is “using enforcement as the primary way to make policy in this area, and that’s just not the most effective way,” she said. “It is not effective for the sector, but it is also not effective for us as a regulator with limited resources.”

If Harris wins

While she hasn’t gone as far as Trump, Harris has recognized the importance of pro-crypto voters this election cycle. The Democratic candidate has pledged to keep the US a dominant player in blockchain technology and introduced a plan to support a regulatory framework for digital assets for black men. However, Harris is reluctant to fully embrace the sector for fear of alienating voters who view crypto as a scam.

Meanwhile, a recent one Unleashed report mentioned two potential replacements being considered by the Harris campaign. Both could potentially be the SEC’s first non-white chairman.

One potential SEC appointee reportedly under consideration is Chris Brummer, a faculty director at the Georgetown Institute of Economic Law who volunteered as part of the financial regulatory transition team for the Biden administration. He was also nominated by President Barack Obama to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission before President Donald Trump withdrew the nomination.

In May, Brummer announced the launch of his own crypto disclosure company called Bluprynt, backed by Robinhood and the former CEO of PayPal. Its platform supports regulatory compliance for crypto companies worldwide, with a focus on whitepaper development and review.

He is also the founder of DC Fintech Week, an annual policy event increasingly focused on crypto and blockchain.

Another contender for an SEC appointment in a Harris administration is Erica Williams, who currently chairs the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which works closely with the SEC to protect investors by facilitating audits of publicly traded companies and broker-dealers .

She previously served as a special assistant and associate counsel on financial and economic policy in the Obama administration and practiced law in Kirkland and Ellis.

While Williams has not made many public comments about her stance on cryptocurrencies, the Board of Directors has assembled a team of inspectors to focus specifically on emerging audit risks, including cryptocurrency, according to Unchained.

While the election is still undecided, the future of crypto regulation remains unclear, but Malecki says that regardless of who takes over the SEC, regulation is necessary.

“One thing I will say is that non-regulation hurts everyone. It hurts the investors. It hurts legitimate crypto dealers and allows bad actors to run wild. I don’t know what it would look like exactly, but regulation is definitely needed,” Malecki said.

This story originally ran Fortune.com