Late last week, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said he was “proud to serve” the commission, a comment some took as a hint that he would soon resign. Mr. Gensler has faced severe criticism over his crackdown on virtual currencies, including recent lawsuits from 18 states, and is likely to be replaced by President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to oust Mr. Gensler. .
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that President Trump met with Brian Armstrong, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, to discuss possible personnel changes. On the same day, President Trump said he would like Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to serve as Secretary of Commerce. Mr. Lutnick is a cryptocurrency enthusiast who has worked as a Wall Street banker at stablecoin giant Tether for many years.
This means that an opportunity has arrived for cryptocurrencies.
That's why on today's episode of Equity, we bring you a conversation between Rebecca Beran and Jonathan Levin, co-founder and CSO of blockchain analytics company Chainalysis. Shortly before the Gary Gensler news broke, the pair met up at the Strictly VC event in New York last week and discussed:
Impending changes to crypto after the US election Trends in crypto crime Chainalysis chooses to operate in the US How to build trust in crypto and blockchain
Equity is TechCrunch's flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo and posted every Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, and all casts. You can also follow stocks × and threads (@EquityPod). For full episode transcripts, if you prefer reading to listening, check out the full episode archive on Simplecast.