Former Rep. McHenry: Gensler's Anti-Crypto Stance Tied to Senate Politics

Patrick McHenry, who served as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee from 2023 to 2025, explained that the private opinion of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler on cryptocurrency differed from his public actions. He attributed Gensler’s anti-crypto stance to progressive ideology and Senate politics.

Former Representative Patrick McHenry: Gensler Opposed Crypto Due to Senate Politics

The anti-crypto stance of the former U.S. government administration, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is now under scrutiny. At the Crypto in America podcast, hosted by journalist Eleanor Terrett, former Rep. Patrick McHenry explained his relationship and private interactions with former SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

When asked about these private interactions in the context of crypto, and if the private opinion of Gensler coincided with his public positions, McHenry stated:

No. Gensler had this complicated history where he saw the value of digital assets, and he was in the seat to do something about it, and he’s trying to kill it.

Furthermore, McHenry claimed he believed that Gensler “wouldn’t be that bad” as SEC chair due to his crypto expertise. “You can have a conversation with him about the content structures, the legal piece of this stuff, and it is a very reasonable thing,” McHenry stated, but blasted the conclusions and actions that Gensler carried out as a result.

McHenry concluded that Gensler’s take on crypto had to do more with “Senate politics and confirmation politics than anything else.”

The former representative was always vocal in his criticism of the SEC under Gensler, blasting the lack of clarity on classifying some tokens as securities or commodities under his chairmanship more than once. McHenry even had a personal faceoff with Gensler during a Congressional hearing in April 2023, when the latter repeatedly failed to answer his questions on ether’s security or commodity status.

Read more: Ether’s Security Status Remains Unclear as SEC Chair Gensler Fails to Answer Lawmaker’s Question

Under Gensler’s guidance, the SEC undertook a crusade against the crypto industry, launching enforcement actions against crypto giants such as Coinbase, Ripple, and Binance, hindering the development of the crypto ecosystem and the industry.