US Representative Patrick McHenry, the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is unfortunately retiring. What does this mean for the subpoena against Gary Gensler and the two crypto bills in the House?
A bittersweet moment for the crypto industry as Patrick McHenry, the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is officially retiring, and he is one that has been putting a lot of pressure on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman, Gary Gensler.
He is not the only one that has been after the Securities Chair, there is also Warren Davidson, Tom Emmer, French Hill and so forth. But obviously, Patrick McHenry was the one leading the charge on many things, threatening a subpoena against Gensler.
Here’s what Justin Slaughter, the Policy Director of Paradigm, had to say on the news, “Rep. McHenry was termed out as Chair of the Financial Services Committee after 2024, so this was expected by a lot of people. Rep. Frank Lucas (Okla.) is next in seniority to lead the GOP on HFSC, followed by Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas).”
Read: US SEC Chair Grilled By Congress On Crypto Regulations – Is This The End For Gary Gensler?
McHenry’s Two Key Crypto Bills
During the summer McHenry took initiatives within the House Financial Services Committee to support cryptocurrency legislation. Among these were a proposed federal regulation for stablecoins and another bill pertaining to the universal market structure of cryptocurrencies.
The crypto bills will still have a strong chance of pushing it through because there are many crypto advocates in the House, and there is a strong chance of it to be approved before the end of his term.
Read: US Lawmakers Propose Cutting SEC Chair’s Salary To $1, Citing Crypto Prohibition
McHenry Threatens Congressional Subpoena To Gensler
For context, around in September, McHenry suggested that he may issue a congressional subpoena to the Securities Chairman over the documents related to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).
But will the subpoena happen to Gary Gensler? I do not think so — I think that is off the table now, and honestly, unless somebody else comes in and picks up where Patrick McHenry left off, then it might happen.
Read: Calls Grow To Dismiss SEC Chair Gensler After Grayscale Ruling
Final Thoughts
McHenry said he is looking forward to spending time with his family and seeing what is next. So the crypto community is a bit disappointed that he is retiring and stepping down from Congress. But you know, he needs to do what is best for him, so we cannot hate on that. Hopefully we get another pro-crypto chairman and we will see where things go.