A top Robinhood executive has emerged as a leading contender before the Securities and Exchange Commission if Donald Trump wins the presidency and ousts SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, according to a report.
Dan Gallagher – Robinhood’s chief legal officer and former SEC commissioner – is considered the top choice for the Republican nominee, According to a dozen former top regulators, lobbyists and securities lawyers interviewed by POLITICO,
“He would be a natural choice,” a former SEC official told the publication.
Meanwhile, the SEC is considering whether to prosecute Robinhood and its cryptocurrency business.
The regulatory agency has been cracking down on this area – particularly transactions involving crypto tokens, which the SEC considers securities.
The SEC is looking into whether the day-trading platform is operating an unregistered broker-dealer and clearing agency in the crypto markets.
“This is a dog of a case,” Gallagher told Politico.
Gallagher said Robinhood offers trading in only a fraction of crypto tokens compared to other platforms with hundreds of tokens. The California-based fintech company does not have any crypto lending or staking products, he said.
“We are sacrificing revenue for the company by not listing coins wildly, and I think that puts us in a very unique position,” Gallagher told the outlet. “Shooting good people is really a bad policy.”
The SEC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Whether or not the agency decides to pursue a lawsuit, it’s clear that Republicans and Democrats alike want Gensler out.
Other names potentially considered by Trump for the post include former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Chris Giancarlo, also known as “Cryptodad”; former SEC General Counsel Robert Stebbins, now a partner at Wilkie Farr & Gallagher; and current SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce, who holds the Republican seat on the commission, according to Politico.
Although the SEC’s attack on Robinhood could put Gallagher in hot water, he remains the front-runner to be Gensler’s replacement.
“Dan would be great,” Republican Representative Bill Huizenga of Michigan told POLITICO last month. “I have had a great relationship working with him, even when we disagreed on some things.”
“Ultimately, you want someone who is thoughtful, experienced, not just ideologically politically motivated,” Huizenga said. “I think that’s the problem with Gensler.”
President Joe Biden nominated Gensler to serve as chair of the agency in 2021.
Since then, Gensler – whose term expires in 2026 – has apparently been pushing for increased scrutiny on the cryptocurrency industry.
Deep-pocketed donors supporting Vice President Kamala Harris have called on her to fire Gensler If she wins in November, Bloomberg reported last month.
Former President Donald Trump – who staked his claim as a pro-crypto candidate during the 2024 Bitcoin conference in July – then said he would fire the chairman if he were re-elected to the presidency.
As a commissioner, Gallagher criticized reforms signed into law in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008.
during A symposium at Fordham Law School in 2015Gallagher said that not only was the US unprepared for another financial crisis, but it also “hadn’t figured out what caused the last crisis.”
He was quick to criticize the SEC’s in-house courts, which have since been declared unconstitutional in some Supreme Court cases.
And he has expressed disapproval over the SEC’s current handling of the crypto industry, arguing that if he had been chairman in the past few years there would already have been clear industry guidelines in place.
“I would have done things differently,” Gallagher told Politico. “I’ve known Gary for a long time and I have a lot of respect for Gary, but, in this case, I disagree with him.”
Gallagher told MM that he loves his job at Robinhood and that it is “an honor to include my name in any discussion of who might be the next SEC chair.”
