US Lawmaker Suggests Gensler's Days Numbered, Plans To File Legislation To Boot Out SEC Chief

Gary Gensler's days as the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may be numbered after Ohio's 8th Congressional District Representative Warren Davidson revealed his plan to introduce legislation aimed at booting Gensler out for supposed overreach.

The U.S. Congressman's statement against the SEC chair surfaced over the weekend after the financial regulator revealed its plan to revisit the definition of an "exchange."

"Yep. To correct a long series of abuses, I am introducing legislation that removes the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and replaces the role with an Executive Director that reports to the Board (where authority resides)," Rep. Davidson said in a tweet, noting that "Former Chairs of the SEC are ineligible."

Last week, Gensler mentioned during a meeting that the proposed rule amendments could benefit not only investors but also the markets since brokers would be brought under regulatory scrutiny and "modernizing" rules that define an exchange.

The same amendments were proposed last January but multiple cryptocurrency groups pointed out it was an overreach of the financial regulator's authority that could limit and endanger involvement in the industry.

"This would account for the evolving nature and electronification of trading platforms in the last 25 years... Given how crypto trading platforms operate today, many of them currently are exchanges regardless of this reopening release we're considering," Gensler said.

Rep. Davidson actually quote-tweeted Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal's post, praising the recent statement of SEC's Hester Piece, more popularly known as "Crypto Mom" in the cryptocurrency space, who underlined that Gensler's proposed amendment would just foster "stagnation, centralization, expatriation, and extinction."

"Today's Commission tells entrepreneurs trying to do new things in our markets to come in and register. When entrepreneurs find they cannot, the Commission dismisses the possibility of making practical adjustments to our registration framework to help entrepreneurs register, and instead rewards their good faith with an enforcement action," Piece noted.

"Today's Commission treats the notice-and-comment rulemaking process not as a conversation, but as a threat," she added.

Rep. Davidson's tweet was well-received by the crypto community, with the majority of them grateful for the U.S. lawmaker's upcoming move.

While many in the crypto community are looking forward to Rep. Davidson's legislation, it is worth noting that for it to be enforced, it has to be introduced first and should pass in the House of Representatives. It will then move to the Senate and if approved, it will reach the President's table for his signature.