Goldman Sach’s Banker and Crypto Professor Gary Gensler Confirmed as United States SEC Chair

The United States Senate confirmed former Goldman Sach’s banker and crypto professor, Gary Gensler, as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman on Wednesday, April 13, 2021, by a 53-45 vote, setting the stage for widespread reform as the agency tackles unprecedented stock market volatility and institutional adoption in the budding cryptocurrency space.

Gensler was nominated by President Joe Biden to head the SEC and acted as a forceful commodities regulator under the President Barack Obama Administration. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business before spending nearly two decades at Goldman Sachs, where he became one of the financial institution’s youngest partners at the time. He has been working in the public sector since 1997 and drawn praise for being one of the leading reformers in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. He is also a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management focusing on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology and is expected by many to be ‘sympathetic to the call for regulatory clarity’ in the space and general transparency in the market.

Gensler and the SEC are expecting to take on a slew of bitcoin exchange-traded fund applications and are currently investigating Ripple, the firm behind one of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies (XRP), for the alleged sale of unregistered securities.

SOURCE: Forbes