Robinhood Markets' chief legal officer, Dan Gallagher, has withdrew from nomination to run the SEC under the Trump administration.

Gallagher's withdrawal changes the hunt for Gary Gensler's replacement. Gensler will leave on Jan. 20, 2025, after overseeing and enforcing bitcoin sector regulations.

As an SEC commissioner from 2011 to 2015 and a senior Trading and Markets official, Gallagher has extensive regulatory expertise.

Since joining Robinhood in mid-2020, he has led it via meme stock trading. WilmerHale and Mylan NV chief legal officer were his previous positions.

The crypto community saw Gallagher as a possible partner in Trump's pro-cryptocurrency agenda.

Rumors of Trump seeking Gallagher to head the SEC started last month.

SEC-crypto sector tensions were at an all-time high when Gallagher's name appeared. Under Gensler, the SEC has cracked down on Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, and Binance, saying that many cryptocurrencies are securities.

Three months later, OpenSea, the biggest non-fungible token marketplace, got a Wells Notice. Certain NFTs on the platform may constitute securities, according to the SEC. That assertion might affect the whole NFT sector (see episode two of The Crypto.news Show).

The crypto sector claims that the SEC framework doesn't apply to digital assets, making compliance difficult.

Gallagher's departure hurts business aspirations for better regulation. He knows conventional finance and digital asset markets.

Gensler emphasized the SEC's investor protection and market integrity mandate in his resignation. “The SEC is amazing. The personnel and commission are mission-driven, he said on X.

The bitcoin sector awaits regulatory changes under the Trump administration as the SEC chair hunt continues.

Trump's pro-crypto attitude and pledges boosted crypto prices. Bitcoin also fell to $98,000 after rising beyond $99,000.