Gary Gensler is an American government official and former investment banker who President Joseph Biden nominated to chair the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 3, 2021, confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 14, 2021, and sworn into office on April 17, 2021.

Before joining the SEC, Gensler was an MIT Sloan School of Management professor, co-director of MIT’s Fintech@CSAIL, and senior advisor to the MIT Media Lab Digital Currency Initiative.

He also served as chair of the Maryland Financial Consumer Protection Commission. He previously led the Obama Administration’s reform of the $400 trillion swaps market as chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Gensler earned his undergraduate degree in economics in 1978 and his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, in 1979.

Gensler on Crypto

In an interview on Yahoo Finance, Gensler said that the SEC has the basic disclosure and governance requirements in place to hold digital-assets firms accountable and that the SEC does not need new powers or tailored crypto rules to enforce securities laws against crypto companies.

He emphasized that crypto firms must comply with public policy norms and separate out different functions such as lending, trading, hedge fund, exchange, and custody functions. He also mentioned that having more money and additional reach beyond U.S. borders would be good.