Jaime Lizárraga of the US Securities and Exchange Commission should be leaving the financial regulator as a new presidential administration prepares to take power.
The SEC commissioner announced in November that he planned to step down on Jan. 17 from the agency, where he had worked since 2022. The departure of Lizárraga and the expected resignation of SEC Chair Gary Gensler on Jan. 20 will likely leave the financial regulator with a staffing gap as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office.
Once Gensler steps down on the day of Trump’s inauguration, the three remaining commissioners of the SEC will be Hester Peirce, Caroline Crenshaw and Mark Uyeda.
Crenshaw’s term officially ended in June 2024, but she will likely be allowed to serve until the end of 2025 unless replaced by a Trump nominee confirmed by the Senate.
Removing Gensler was one of Trump’s campaign promises to the crypto industry, but the SEC chair voluntarily announced his resignation after the 2024 election swung for the Republican candidate.
The president-elect said in December that he planned to pick former commissioner Paul Atkins to replace Gensler as SEC chair, but he would need to be officially nominated and confirmed by a majority of senators.
Related: Gary Gensler says the presidential election wasn’t about crypto money
The SEC and other US government agencies are preparing for the transition to the Trump administration, in which crypto is expected to be a priority. On Jan. 17, SEC Chief of Staff Amanda Fischer announced her departure, and the Associated Press reported that Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel would step down on Trump’s inauguration day.
Status of civil cases filed under Gensler
It’s unclear whether the SEC under Trump could stay its course on enforcement actions against crypto firms or adopt rulemaking to clarify how companies can legally operate in the US. The commission has several ongoing cases against exchanges, including Ripple Labs — filed under Trump’s SEC chair in 2020 — Coinbase and Binance.
Reuters reported on Jan. 15 that the SEC, under the next administration, could freeze all enforcement cases that didn’t involve allegations of fraud.
It’s unclear if such an approach could affect decisions in cases going to an appellate court, like those with Coinbase, or in cases in which a judge has already determined liability — e.g., Ripple.
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