- Senate Banking Committee chair Sherrod Brown called it a “disgusting smear campaign against Caroline Crenshaw.”
- The vote was postponed minutes before it was due to begin by Brown.
- No date has been set for Crenshaw’s renomination.
A U.S. Senate vote to renominate Democratic Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was postponed at the last minute.
The vote had been scheduled for December 11 but was delayed minutes before it was to begin. Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown postponed the vote, and when he later requested that it be rescheduled for later that same day, Republican senators blocked the request.
Brown released a statement characterizing the opposition as a campaign by corporate special interests, calling it a “disgusting smear campaign against Caroline Crenshaw.” No new date has been set for her renomination.
Earlier this week, several crypto and blockchain advocacy groups publicly opposed Crenshaw’s renomination. In a joint letter to Brown and Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Tim Scott, the Blockchain Association and the DeFi Education Fund argued that Crenshaw’s actions have hindered Congress’s efforts to establish clear regulatory policy for the cryptocurrency industry.
The letter specifically pointed to Crenshaw’s “continued opposition to the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETP” as a central concern.
After news of the renomination surfaced, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong criticized Crenshaw on social media, asserting that she had attempted to block Bitcoin ETFs and at times was “worse than Gensler on some issues.”
A Republican-majority SEC?
The delay in Crenshaw’s renomination raises the prospect of a Republican-majority SEC if a new Republican administration takes office in January. Crenshaw’s term technically ended in June, but if renominated and confirmed she would remain the lone Democratic commissioner.
The SEC is composed of up to five commissioners, and no more than three may belong to the same political party. Current SEC Chair Gary Gensler, a Democrat, is expected to step down on January 20, and Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga, also a Democrat, is set to leave on January 17.
Last week, former President Donald Trump nominated pro-crypto Republican Paul Atkins to serve as the next SEC chair. With anticipated departures and pending nominations, the commission’s balance could shift: alongside Gensler and Lizárraga, the remaining commissioners currently include Republicans Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda.
With Crenshaw’s renomination unresolved and no new hearing date scheduled, the composition and policy direction of the SEC remain uncertain as the transition approaches.