Patrick McHenry becomes interim House Speaker - Another win for crypto

Table of Contents

• An influential position
• McHenry takes Gensler to task
• A change in the balance of power?

After sitting Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a vote by Congress, Patrick McHenry, a pro-crypto lawmaker, became the Interim Speaker of the House, the third most powerful position in the U.S. government.

An influential position

This was the first time that a House Speaker was removed from office in the history of the U.S. government. A vote in Congress that resulted in a 216 to 210 win for the removal of McCarthy, saw McHenry instated in his place.

McHenry’s position is temporary, although there is a possibility that another pro-crypto representative, Tom Emmer, could land the job if he were to express an interest.

Given that the position of House Speaker is such an influential position, only behind that of the President and the Vice President, it is a win for crypto supporters. 

McHenry takes Gensler to task

McHenry, as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, recently gave anti-crypto SEC Chairman Gary Gensler a tongue lashing in the House over his failure to provide transparency over dealings with Sam Bankman-Fried.

In addition, McHenry is a very stern critic of what he calls Gensler’s regulation-by-enforcement style of leadership. He accuses the watchdog agency chairman of trying to “choke off the digital asset ecosystem”.

McHenry went as far as to threaten Gensler with a subpoena should the SEC continue to fail to provide the documents requested by Congress. Saying in a Tweet:

“Should Gensler continue to stonewall, Republicans will have no choice but to issue the first subpoena to the SEC from my Committee to compel their production.”

A change in the balance of power?

The vote on who will be the next Speaker of the House is due to take place on October 11. If either McHenry or Emmer run for the position and win it, this will put friends of crypto in an extremely high position in the echelons of the U.S. government. 

With Biden’s administration being so harshly anti-crypto this will help to at least give some balance. Of course, with the presidential race starting next year, this can potentially provide another administration that could be much fairer and supportive of such an innovative industry.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.