Ethereum is “poised to benefit” more from Donald Trump’s presidential election victory than any other protocol, Consensys CEO Joe Lubin said.
“We’ve been living in a gas-lit world for a long time, generously gas-lit by the SEC,” Lubin told Cointelegraph at Devcon 2024 in Thailand. “We believe it seems pretty clear that it was driven by the progressive side of the Democratic Party,” he added.
Joe Lubin sits down with Cointelegraph’s Andrew Fenton. Source: Cointelegraph
Consensys, which has been battling the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, cut 20% of its workforce in October, placing part of the blame on the SEC’s “abuse of power.”
Since Trump’s victory last week, Lubin sees things looking up, particularly for Ethereum in light of an eventual change in SEC leadership.
“America has had its boot on the neck of Ethereum for a pretty long time, specifically Ethereum, and that’s caused a bunch of FUD.”
Bitcoin (BTC) has surged 16% since Trump’s win on Nov. 5, while Solana (SOL) and BNB (BNB) are up 8% and 3%, respectively. Ether (ETH), on the other hand, has risen 23% in the last seven days and was trading at about $3,200, according to CoinMarketCap.
“We’ve already seen a rebound that has been more favorable to Ether [...] So Ethereum is poised to benefit more than, I think, other protocols, especially since it’s just a lot bigger and more mature than all the other ecosystems other than Bitcoin, which is mature but narrow in its purview,” Lubin said.
Farside data shows that US spot Ethereum ETFs have seen a flood of investment since Trump was elected, hitting a record $295 million of inflows on Nov. 11, though Bitcoin ETFs have done much better in comparison.
Joe Lubin hopes for an easy SEC transition
Trump is set to return to the White House on Jan. 20, and Lubin and others say SEC Chair Gary Gensler will submit his resignation the same day.
Lubin said he hopes to see Mark Uyeda, a current commissioner of the SEC, become acting chair.
Related: Consensys urges clear crypto rules in letter to future US president
“Hopefully, they won’t try to jam up a lot of people and companies before they exit. Hopefully, they’ll be graceful in their exit or the transition,” Lubin said.
Before the Nov. 5 election, Consensys issued an open letter addressed to whoever was to become the next US president, requesting clear and supportive regulations for crypto and Web3.
Published on Oct. 23, the letter said that regulatory uncertainty was hindering blockchain technology development.
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