Washington and Wall Street veteran Gary Gensler is President Biden's pick for the new head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The MIT professor may be light-footed on the dancefloor, but has earned a reputation as a 'heavy handed' regulator for his work reining in the derivatives industry in his former role as head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Regarding cryptocurrency, Gensler appears to be far more knowledgeable than his predecessor Jay Clayton. He taught a class on blockchain at MIT and has testified before Congress on the topic. In his comments and writings, he has expressed a clear understanding of where the tech can help with the problems of today's financial infrastructure, coupled with an awareness of potential pitfalls.
In his own words, he has called crypto assets an "innovative irritant", and is widely expected to take a proactive approach to regulating industry activity.