President Joe Biden Seeks Term Extension for Anti-Crypto SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw

President
Joe
Biden
plans
to
retain
anti-crypto
commissioner
Caroline
Crenshaw
at
the
US
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
(SEC)
after
her
first
term
expired
on
June
5. 

????NEW:

@POTUS
has
just
announced
his
intention
to
renominate
Democrat

@SECGov
Commissioner
Caroline
Crenshaw
to
a
second
term
at
the
agency.

pic.twitter.com/zGxnyBIXs5

—
Eleanor
Terrett
(@EleanorTerrett)

June
13,
2024

The
move
is
part
of
a
leadership
reshuffle
at
top
US
financial
regulatory
institutions.

Crenshaw,
who
has
served
with
the
SEC
since
2020,
emerged
as
an
anti-crypto
voice
during
her
tenure
alongside
SEC
Chair
Gary
Gensler. 

Crenshaw’s
Anti-Crypto
Tenure
at
the
SEC 

Crenshaw
is
one
of
the
two
SEC
Commissioners
who
voted
against
the
approval
of
spot
Bitcoin
exchange-traded
funds
(ETFs)
in
January.

She
said
that
criminals
use
Bitcoin
to
evade
US
sanctions
and
promote
ransomware
attacks,
and

that
Bitcoin’s
spot
price
is
prone
to
manipulation
and
fraud.

She
added
that
the
SEC,
in
approving
BTC
ETFs,
is
on
a
“wayward
path”
to
“sacrifice
investor
protection.” 

“I
am
concerned
that
these
products
will
flood
the
markets
and
land
squarely
in
the
retirement
accounts
of
US
households
who
can
least
afford
to
lose
their
savings
to
the
fraud
and
manipulation
that
appears
prevalent
in
the
spot
bitcoin
markets,”
she
said
in
a statement.

In
2021,
the
SEC
commissioner
voiced


disapproval

of
the
decentralized
finance
(DeFi)
sector
operating
in
an
unregulated
space.
While
DeFi
presented
many
opportunities,
she
criticized
the
sector’s
lack
of
transparency.

Joe
Biden
Gives
Mixed
Signals
on
Crypto

The
Biden
administration
is
giving
mixed
signals
about
its
stance
towards
the
crypto
industry.
In
May,
the
SEC
unexpectedly
approved


spot
Ether
ETFs,
a
move
widely
seen
as
prompted
by
political
considerations
as
presidential
rival
Donald
Trump
pivoted
towards
a
pro-crypto
stance.

But
a
few
days
later,
the
crypto
community
was
in
an
uproar
after
Biden
vetoed
a
pro-crypto
bill. 

The
proposed
term
extension
for
Crenshaw
comes
soon
after
reports
that
the
Biden
campaign
team
was


considering
accepting
crypto
donations. 

Trump
though
has
come
out
with
a
strongly
pro-crypto
stance,
saying
he
wants
to
be
”crypto
president,”
accepting
campaign
donations
in
crypto,
and
vowing
support
for
the
Bitcoin
mining
industry. 

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