The legal conflicts between cryptocurrency firms and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may ease with Donald Trump’s reelection as the 47th president, Consensys CEO Joe Lubin suggested.
“So my guess is, in a way that is not embarrassing, they figure out ways to get the cases dismissed or settled, or something like that,” Lubin said during an interview with Cointelegraph at DevCon 2024 in Thailand.
“Maybe not all the cases, maybe not all elements of the case, but I have a feeling that our industry is going to save hundreds of millions of dollars going forward,” he added.
Lubin’s remarks follow Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election, a development welcomed by the crypto sector due to his pro-crypto campaign promises.
Trump’s Pro-Crypto Agenda
One of Trump’s key pledges was to dismiss SEC chair Gary Gensler on his first day in office.
“There is also growing optimism that Trump will fill his cabinet with ‘pro-crypto’ individuals,” Lubin noted.
Lubin believes Trump’s transition team is “moving aggressively,” describing the former president as “a pretty good politician” who “picks up on the zeitgeist and runs with it.”
Consensys’ Legal Battle
Lubin also discussed Consensys’ lawsuit against the SEC, filed in April, accusing the agency of seeking to regulate Ether (ETH) as a security.
“Our lawsuit lit a fire. That fire was picked up by law,” Lubin stated.
He alleged that the SEC attempted to differentiate Ethereum 2.0 from the original Ether, arguing the former was a security.
Although a Texas federal judge dismissed Consensys’ lawsuit in September, a separate SEC case against the company—alleging it operated as an unregistered broker through MetaMask Swaps—remains ongoing.
Industry Criticism
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently called for the next SEC chair to apologize for the agency’s harm to the cryptocurrency space.
