About that “Gary Gensler for Treasury Secretary” story.

Gary Gensler is (let’s just say) universally disliked in crypto for the SEC’s frequent aggressive “enforcement actions” and his refusal to be clear about what is and isn’t legally permissible when it comes to digital assets.

But is the story true? Let’s take a look at the evidence and how this “story” may have come about.

It may be true that “several senior Senate staffers” believe Gensler could be Treasury secretary in a Harris administration. Gensler is believed to have coveted that job for a long time, and would certainly be well qualified: He has worked on Wall Street (Goldman Sachs), headed both of the country’s primary market regulators (SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission) and was a professor at MIT. He is an economically well-rounded civil servant with experience; why wouldn’t he be considered a candidate for Treasury secretary? Leaving aside the fact that Harris must win the presidency, a majority in the Senate and convince both Democratic and Republican senators to support his nomination…it’s certainly possible that Gensler will win the job next year, though most experts say it’s unlikely.

But the story is full of red flags that any decent editor would immediately mark in red ink. For example: “Those rumors corroborate what top Republicans have been saying Reporter in the record.” Rumors do not corroborate anything. And there is nothing close to a quote from someone close to the Harris camp; the “likely” in the title comes from those Senate staffers.