Robinhood CLO has shot at SEC chair: report

Robinhood’s chief attorney, who once served at the SEC, could lead the regulator if President Donald Trump is re-elected next month.

Robinhood Markets’ chief legal officer Dan Gallagher has been mentioned as a leading chair candidate at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission should former President Donald Trump win the election in November, Politico reported on Monday, Oct. 10.

Gallagher has worked at the SEC before, once as a legal advisor to former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins and also as an SEC commissioner himself from 2011 to 2015.

Gallagher was said to have deployed efforts toward the agency’s enforcement and trading divisions during his time at the regulator. These two divisions oversee SEC crackdowns and rule changes required to list products like crypto exchange-traded funds.

In his current role at Robinhood, Gallagher has criticized the watchdog’s approach to crypto regulation and registration. His testimony at a hearing last month piled upon industry rhetoric, accusing the SEC of refusing to provide clarity while the agency threatened Robinhood with potential legal action.

Strife between the SEC and crypto industry stakeholders has only deepened in recent years. On the one hand, the regulator claims that digital asset operators are non-compliant.

Crypto business leaders constantly rebuff the assertion, arguing that existing securities rules do not complement blockchain technology.

The disagreement has become somewhat of a rallying point for Trump’s crypto-focused campaign strategy. At Bitcoin (BTC) 2024, the Republican candidate promised to fire current SEC chair Gary Gensler on day one in office, if re-elected.

Gensler is arguably one of crypto’s fiercest opponents and has led the Wall Street cop in a deluge of lawsuits against digital asset entities.

A change of leadership at the SEC may soon happen, but the development was still uncertain at the time of publishing. Names like SEC commissioner Hester Peirce have also emerged as possible options to replace Gensler, whose term technically runs until 2026.