Crypto, Casinos, and the SEC: Caroline Crenshaw’s Final Blowout

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Well, folks, it looks like SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw is getting ready to exit stage left in less than a month. But before she hands over the keys to the SEC kingdom, she had one last public mic drop about the agency’s glorious handling of digital assets. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t pretty.

During her Thursday chat at the Brookings Institution (because, where else would you discuss crypto drama?), Crenshaw called out the SEC’s decline over the past year. Apparently, things are starting to look less like a regulatory body and more like, oh I don’t know, a high-stakes poker table? 💸 According to Crenshaw, the markets now resemble “casinos,” with “chaos” reigning supreme after the SEC casually brushed aside years of enforcement cases and cut back on penalties. Nice, right? 🍿

Crenshaw went full fire and brimstone on the crypto craze, too. She basically said that people are diving headfirst into crypto like it’s a jackpot slot machine, with some folks getting rich while others, well, lose their shirts. But wait for it-she’s super confused about what, exactly, is driving these prices. Is it based on, like, actual value or just people trying to ‘get rich quick’ because some Twitter influencer told them to? 🤔

In her words: “It’s safe to say [crypto buyers are] speculating, reacting to hysteria from promoters, feeding a desire to gamble, wash trading to push up prices, or, as one Nobel laureate has posited, ‘betting on the popularity of the politicians who support or stand to benefit from the success of crypto.’” Yeah, that’s not shady at all. 👀

But let’s not forget-while Crenshaw was throwing shade, SEC Chair Paul Atkins and fellow Commissioner Hester Peirce were out there flexing their support for the agency’s handling of crypto. They even made a big appearance at the Blockchain Association Policy Summit this week, probably talking about how they’re going to fix everything (or not). Who knows? 💁‍♀️

During the Q&A sesh, Crenshaw doubled down on her crypto skepticism, calling it a “tiny piece of the market.” She expressed concern that the SEC might start rolling out crypto-friendly policies that let digital currency companies slip through the regulatory cracks. Oh, and she worried that this could lead to some serious market chaos. Whoops. 😬

The Final Throes of Bipartisan Financial Regulators Under Trump?

As Crenshaw’s departure looms, the SEC will be down to three Republican commissioners. Two of those were handpicked by none other than Donald Trump. Crenshaw also spilled the tea that the SEC’s staff has shrunk by about 20% in the past year. Talk about a budget cut! 💰

And let’s not forget the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is also a hot mess. With a commissioner exodus happening in 2025, acting Chair Caroline Pham is the last one standing. But don’t worry, Trump’s nominee, Michael Selig, is expected to fill the top spot soon-unless the Senate does something wild, like, I don’t know, make them work for it. 🤷‍♀️

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2025-12-11 20:36