A top executive at trading giant Robinhood is reportedly likely to end up replacing Gary Gensler as the head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) if Donald Trump wins the election.
According to a new Politico report, “a dozen former top regulators, lobbyists and securities lawyers” say that Robinhood’s chief legal officer Dan Gallagher is emerging as a top contender for SEC Chair should Trump defeat Kamala Harris in November.
Says one former senior SEC official,
“He’d be a natural choice.”
Gallagher once served as an SEC Commissioner from 2011 to 2015, according to his bio on Robinhood’s website, and held other staff-level positions with the federal agency beforehand.
Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) has also spoken favorably of a potential Gallagher nomination.
“Dan would be great. I’ve had a great relationship working with him, even when we disagreed on some stuff. Ultimately, you want someone who’s thoughtful, experienced, and not just ideologically politically driven. That’s been, I think, the problem with Gensler.”
Gallagher is critical of the way Gensler has handled the crypto industry in the last few years, and says if he would have been Chair he would have already created clearer regulatory rules, including “a path forward for at least a baseline registration system.”
“I would have done things differently. I’ve known Gary for a long time and have a lot of respect for Gary, but, on this one, I disagree with him.”
Other potential SEC head nominees being mentioned under Trump include former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTCT) Chair Chris Giancarlo, former SEC General Counsel Robert Stebbins, and current SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce.
Meanwhile, Robinhood is potentially facing a lawsuit from the SEC over its crypto trading, which Gallagher opposes.
“It’s a dog of a case. We’ve been forgoing revenue for the company by not going hog wild listing coins, and I think that puts us in a very, very unique position. Shooting at the good guys is a really bad policy.”
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