$BTC

Atkins replaces Gary Gensler, whose penchant for so-called “regulation by enforcement” drew the ire of many in the crypto industry. O’Leary said Thursday that he respected Gensler’s consistency as a regulator.

“He said he was gonna sue you, and he sued you,” O’Leary said. “He was consistent and you have to respect that.”

In a press conference ahead of his keynote speech, O’Leary said he'd received a Wells notice from the SEC over a decade ago after speaking about debt tokenization in a televised interview. He was cleared, he said, but the experience temporarily scared him off engaging with crypto in the U.