TL;DR

Following Trumps election, speculation has grown around SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s potential firing or resignation. His departure and possible replacement with a pro-crypto leader could boost the market, especially Ripples XRP.

Time to Say Goodbye?

Donald Trumps victory in the US presidential elections was followed by a massive bull run of the cryptocurrency market. This was rather expected since the Republican made numerous pro-crypto promises during his campaign.

One of those includes the firing of the Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, on day 1. To the uninitiated ones, the agency and its leader have been at war with many crypto businesses, filing countless lawsuits over the years.

While Trumps inauguration is set for January 20, the pro-XRP attorney James Murphy (who goes by MetaLawMan on X) believes Gensler may vacate his post as early as this month.

He reminded that the former Chairman of the regulator, Mary Jo White, resigned six days after the 2016 US presidential elections. Her successor, Jay Clayton, did the same 13 days after Joe Biden won the contest in November 2020.

The SEC is an independent federal agency, which has caused some industry participants to wonder whether the American president has the authority to dismiss its Chair. Murphy said the Supreme Court has not had the occasion to rule on this question since the previous leaders of the Commission have stepped down upon change of administration.

But, a few Sup Ct justices, the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Journal of Regulation (and I) believe the President does have the authority to fire the SEC Chairman if it comes to that, he added.

The Possible Effect

Genslers potential resignation (and his replacement with someone pro-crypto and more open to innovation) could fuel a significant market resurgence.

Industry participants speculate that Ripples XRP will be among the top performers in such a scenario. Some attorneys, such as Jeremy Hogan and Fred Rispoli, think the agencys new leadership will lead to drastic changes in the Ripple v. SEC case.

The former predicted that the regulator may dissolve all non-fraud crypto lawsuits filed over the years. He assumed that the one against Ripple may be settled for the previously ruled amount of $125 million.

Rispoli claimed such a dismissal is unrealistic. On the other hand, he argued that the $125 million fine is the biggest win the SEC can gain from the case. 

XRPs price may flourish in the absence of the uncertainty surrounding the legal tussle. It currently trades at around $0.71, representing a 28% increase on a weekly scale. In comparison, Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano (ADA), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and many more cryptocurrencies have charted much more impressive gains over that period.