The vote to re-appoint SEC Commissioner Carolyn Crenshaw has been postponed

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown called it a “disgusting smear campaign against Caroline Crenshaw,” and the vote was adjourned minutes before Brown was set to begin.

A vote on the nomination of US Senate Democrat Caroline Crenshaw to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been postponed.

The election was originally held on December 11. However, it was postponed minutes before the start, Bloomberg reported. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown delayed the vote. When Brown called for a vote, Republican senators blocked the request.

Brown later issued a statement saying that corporate special interests were conducting a “disgusting smear campaign against Carolyn Crenshaw.”

The date of her appointment has not been decided.

Earlier this week, crypto and blockchain advocacy groups voiced their opposition to Crenshaw's appointment.

The Blockchain Association and the Diffie Education Fund wrote in a letter to Brown and the Senate Banking Committee that Crenshaw's actions undermine Congress's mandate to establish clear regulatory policies for the crypto industry.

In their letter, they cite Crenshaw's “continued opposition to approval of the spot Bitcoin ETP.”

Following the news of Crenshaw's reappointment, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took to X: “She tried to block the Bitcoin ETF, and in some cases she was worse than Gensler (I didn't think that was possible).”

Republican-majority SEC?

The delay in Crenshaw's appointment leaves open the possibility of a three-person Republican SEC after Donald Trump takes office in January. Crenshaw's tenure at the SEC officially ended in June; However, she would be the only Democratic SEC commissioner if elected.

The SEC can appoint up to five commissioners, but no more than three can form a single political party. Current SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, a Democrat, will step down on January 20th, and SEC Commissioner Jaime Lizaraga, a Democrat, will step down on January 17th.

Last week, Trump appointed pro-crypto Paul Atkins, a Republican, as chairman of the SEC.

Along with Gensler and Lizaraga, the other SEC commissioners include Republicans Hester Pierce and Mark Uyeda.