Robinhood’s CLO Could Become the Next SEC Chair If Trump Wins

Robinhood’s chief legal officer (CLO) Dan Gallagher will likely become chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) if Donald Trump wins the upcoming presidential election, Politico stated in a report, citing statements from a dozen former top regulators, lobbyists, and securities lawyers.

“He’d be a natural choice,” one former senior SEC official said.

A Matter of When, Not If

Some Republicans even say Gallagher’s move to the SEC Chair position has long been a matter of when, not if. Meanwhile, all that will depend on the outcome of the November presidential election.

Gallagher served as a Commissioner of the SEC from 2011 to 2015 under the leadership of the former U.S. president, Barack Obama. He also served as the deputy director and co-acting director of the Division of Trading and Markets. He later joined Robinhood in May 2020.

“Ultimately, you want someone who’s thoughtful, experienced, and not just ideologically politically driven. That’s been, I think, the problem with Gensler,” Rep. Bill Huizenga said.

However, Gallagher will still have to compete with a long list of other qualified candidates under Trump, including former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Chris Giancarlo (aka “CryptoDad”), former SEC General Counsel Robert Stebbins, and incumbent SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce.

Trump Vows to Fire Gensler

At the largest Bitcoin Conference in Nashville in July, Trump vowed to fire Gensler (whose term is not up until 2026) and appoint a crypto-friendly candidate if he returns to the White House. At the event, Trump noted “we will have regulations, but from now on, the rules will be written by people who love your industry, not hate your industry.”

While this promise can be seen as part of Trump’s effort to attract crypto voters, the former U.S. president has made several notable pro-crypto comments and ventures in recent months.

Under Gensler’s leadership, the SEC has been known to crack down on crypto firms heavily using the regulation-by-enforcement approach. The financial agency based its enforcement actions on claims that most crypto assets qualify as securities based on the Howey test criteria. According to the Howey test, cryptocurrencies are securities if they meet the criteria of an investment contract, including an investment of money, a common enterprise, an expectation of profits, and reliance on the efforts of others.