What was really happening inside the SEC during the Gensler years?

Today, we sat down with Corey Frayer, former senior crypto policy advisor to SEC Chair Gary Gensler and now Director of Investor Protection at the Consumer Federation of America.

We dig into how the agency thought about securities law, DeFi, Uniswap, stablecoins, SAB 121, and why platforms like Coinbase and Kraken ended up in the crosshairs.

Corey defends the Gensler playbook while responding to the industry’s harshest criticisms, from “regulation by enforcement” to claims of a political war on crypto. 

Corey Frayer:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-frayer-990a6b2 

------
🎬 DEBRIEF | RYAN & DAVID UNPACKING THE EPISODE

https://www.bankless.com/podcast/debrief-inside-gary-genslers-sec 

------

BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

🔵COINBASE | ETH & BTC BACKED LOANS
https://bankless.cc/coinbase-borrow

🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, & EARN
https://bankless.cc/fraxnet

🦄UNISWAP LABS | SWAP NOW
https://bankless.cc/uniswap-labs

🛞MANTLE | GLOBAL HACKATHON 2025
https://bankless.cc/mantle-hackathon

💤EIGHT SLEEP | IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP
https://bankless.cc/eight-sleep

------

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro
4:58 Crypto Industry Misconceptions

7:59 Corey’s Role & Background

14:20 How it All Started

24:16 No Path to Register?

31:26 Technology vs Economic Activity

38:22 Protecting Investors

41:07 DeFi Regulation

44:53 Uniswap’s Wells Notice

57:00 Fake DeFi vs True DeFi

1:03:41 Google Analogy

1:08:35 The Howey Test

1:16:53 SEC: Good or Evil?

1:26:52 GENIUS Bill

1:29:10 SAB 121

1:33:01 Crypto & SEC Political Impact

1:36:02 Paul Atkin’s SEC

1:38:15 What Would Corey Change?

1:41:23 Gary’s Text Messages

1:43:10 Is ETH a Security?

1:44:39 Gary Gensler’s Radio Silence

1:47:37 Gary’s Twitter April Fools PFP

1:50:44 Closing & Disclaimers

------

Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠