It's a final wall falling for companies in the cryptocurrency sector: the very anti-crypto president of the Securities and Exchange Commission (Sec), the policeman of the American Stock Exchange, announced his resignation on Thursday. While he could have stayed in office until the end of his term in April 2026, Gary Gensler has announced his intention to set sail before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20.
The head of the American regulator is known for having waged a war against the exchange platforms for these digital assets exchanged on a network of decentralized computers called blockchain.
Gensler against exchange platforms
To understand the disenchantment between Gary Gensler and cryptos, we have to go back to November 2022: this month marks the bankruptcy of the second largest crypto-asset exchange platform, FTX. As a reminder, the company had been accused of having illegally taken funds from its clients to invest them in its own cryptocurrency, FTT, before going out of business after the collapse of the price of this asset… preventing their customers from withdrawing their funds for more than a year.
Two years after FTX, the revenge of the crypto sector
Faced with this massive fraud, of the order of 10 billion dollars, the president of the stock market policeman increased the pressure on the exchange platforms. As a result, Gary Gensler launched investigations and complaints against the giants Binance, Kraken and Coinbase, between 2022 and 2024.
« There was a lack of framework and definition of crypto-assets in the United States. So, to better regulate and protect consumers, the Sec tried to define these new assets as financial securities, in order to subject them to the controls applied in traditional finance. », summarizes Stanislas Barthelemi, crypto consultant at KPMG.
Except ” that it did not do so by legislating, but by attacking companies », nuances the specialist, who specifies that “ many companies have faced lawsuits, without even knowing what to put in place to avoid them. »
Crypto: American regulators go to war against companies in the sector
Faced with this hostility from the gendarme and the regulations gone from nothing to everything, “ businesses suffered and this period slowed down innovations and the maturation of the sector in the United States », observes the KPMG expert. A stick in the wheels of the sector which has however allowed Europe and in particular France to get ahead and attract companies to its soil, like Binance which has established its European headquarters in Paris .
The Trump turning point
Gary Gensler's bringing the crypto industry into line hit a wall: the coming to power of Donald Trump. During his campaign, the Republican promised to fire the head of the American financial policeman. In addition, he assured that he wanted to make the United States “the world capital of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies”.
To do this, he wants to pass the Bitcoin Act, which provides for the sale of gold to acquire 200,000 bitcoins per year, for five years, which would represent 5% of the circulating supply. Cherry on the crypto-cake, according to BloombergTrump's team is reportedly talking with industry players to create a possible new position at the White House exclusively dedicated to crypto-asset policy. Brief, ” there is an extremely strong paradigm shift in the United States », Notes the manager of the Alphacap management company, François Laviale.
How Donald Trump learned to love bitcoin
What about the regulatory question? “ Trump wants to establish a clearer framework, but favorable to crypto-assets and companies in the sector », also notes Claire Balva, strategic director at the neobank Deblock and expert in cryptocurrencies.
Or, « with this more favorable political position, a whole range of traditional financial products will be able to be exposed to cryptos, which will make it possible to attract new types of individual and professional investors. », Anticipates Stanislas Barthelemi.
With this red carpet newly rolled out for players in the sector, could the risk of an FTX repeat occur again? “ We are not safe from a new scandal, particularly among companies registered in tax havens. But since this affair, we have seen much more vigilance and control from American regulators and this should continue », Estimates Claire Balva.
New competition for Europe
The new American government's extended hand to cryptos could have consequences well beyond the United States. In Europe, since the vote on the regulation “ Market in Crypto assets » (MiCa) which is due to come into force on December 30, the regulatory framework is seen as clear and reassuring by crypto players.
However, “ the application of a more favorable policy in the United States will bring respectability and legitimacy to the sector, which will allow traditional finance players to focus more on it. Some banks and investment funds could even end up publicly declaring themselves exposed to these assets », before Stanislas Barthelemi.
For her part, Claire Balva from Deblock is more negative about the future of the industry in Europe. “Contrary to what has happened in recent years, the United States should become more attractive than Europe for companies in the sector. » Already, last May, Circle, the company behind the stablecoin USDC (a cryptocurrency backed by the dollar), announced that it wanted to relocate its Irish headquarters to the United States, without giving an explanation. Start of a great migration?
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