Former CFTC chair Gary Gensler to be named head of SEC by Joe Biden: report

Gary Gensler, the former Obama-era chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is reportedly set to be named as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission for the incoming Biden administration.

Citing sources with knowledge of the process, Reuters said that the nomination will happen "in coming days." Gensler was added to Biden's transition team in November shortly after the U.S. presidential election, as previously reported. 

As The Block's Mike Orcutt wrote in November, Gensler is no crypto enthusiast — but he has highlighted the technology as one that exposes some of the underlying payments problems in the U.S. today. Gensler, an MIT Sloan Business School professor and former chief financial officer for the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, has commented publicly on the dynamics shaping the payments ecosystem today, including the emergence of projects like the Facebook-backed Libra, now known as Diem.

If nominated and confirmed, Gensler will take over an agency that is at the forefront of the U.S. government's action on the crypto and blockchain front. Gensler would likely play a key role in any consideration of a bitcoin ETF, given renewed efforts to launch one in the U.S. and institutional interest in such products.