Crypto Rules Flip After SEC Boss Leaves

A year after Gary Gensler stepped down as the top boss at the SEC, things have changed a lot in the crypto world. People in the crypto industry weren't big fans of Gensler's strict rules and actions. This led to companies like Ripple Labs supporting political candidates who were more crypto-friendly. When Trump took over, he picked Mark Uyeda to lead the SEC. This change brought a big shift in how the SEC handled crypto. Many old cases and investigations were dropped. For example, the SEC stopped going after Coinbase, Robinhood Crypto, and Uniswap Labs. Even the long-running case against Ripple was put to rest. Some people wondered if these changes were because of Trump's close ties to the crypto industry. Trump and his family have been involved in crypto businesses, like World Liberty Financial and a memecoin called Official Trump (TRUMP). They've even made a lot of money from these ventures.In 2025, the SEC held meetings with industry experts to talk about crypto rules. But all this talk might not matter if Congress passes a big crypto bill called the CLARITY Act. This bill aims to set clear rules for crypto. However, it's been stuck in the Senate, and even Coinbase's CEO pulled his support for it. After Gensler left, all the Democratic commissioners at the SEC also left. This left only one Democratic commissioner, Caroline Crenshaw, who was a crypto skeptic. She left in January 2026, and Trump hasn't said if he'll appoint new commissioners to balance the team. Gensler went back to teaching at MIT and still talks about crypto, calling Bitcoin a "speculative" asset.