Ripple’s Top Lawyer Takes Dig at Leading Candidate to Replace Gensler

Stuart Alderoty, chief legal officer at enterprise blockchain company Ripple, recently took a not-so-veiled dig at former SEC General Counsel Bob Stebbins. 

This comes after Stebbins recently emerged as one of the top picks to replace SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

In his post, Alderoty pointed to the fact that Stebbins was involved in crafting the now-infamous Ethereum speech, which recognized the second-largest cryptocurrency as a non-security back in 2018. 

"Clayton 2.0" 

Stebbins has faced strong opposition from cryptocurrency advocates due to his association with former SEC Chair Jay Clayton. 

Clayton, of course, famously brought the lawsuit against Ripple during his last month at the helm of the agency. 

As noted by former SEC official John Reed Stark, Stebbins personally approved about 80 cryptocurrency-related enforcement actions. 

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Stebbins's candidacy is reportedly being actively pushed by Clayton, who was recently picked to serve as Manhattan's top federal prosecutor.  

Cryptocurrency attorney John Deaton claims that Stebbins would be essentially Clayton 2.0 when it comes to crypto regulation.

"Choosing Bob Stebbins, especially with Calyton heading the SDNY, is essentially adopting a Clayton 2.0 approach regarding Crypto. We’ve been there and done that," he said in his social media post.   

The top contenders 

Apart from Stebbins, there are other top contenders. Daniel Gallagher, Robinhood's top lawyer, Brad Bondi of Paul Hastings, and Patomak Global Partners CEO Paul Atkins are also among the top contenders. So far, it seems like the race to replace Gensler is far from over, and the cryptocurrency industry will likely flex its lobbying muscles to try to stop  Stebbins.