As a result, the Wall Street cop earned the label of chief crypto antagonist.

Following Donald Trump’s White House victory, though, the writing was on the wall for Gensler, who consistently called on crypto firms to “come in and register” with the regulator. 

Those same firms argued that U.S. laws on digital assets are ambiguous, and it wasn’t clear how or when they should engage with the regulator before they listed or sold products to investors.