Bloomberg Talks – Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler Talks Crypto, CME Outage

Date: December 2, 2025
Host: Bloomberg
Guest: Gary Gensler, Former SEC Chair, Professor at MIT Sloan

Episode Overview

This episode features a candid interview with Gary Gensler, former Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), now a professor at MIT Sloan, focusing on two hot topics in today's financial markets: the ongoing turbulence in the cryptocurrency sector and the recent, headline-making outage at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The conversation explores crypto's evolving role in capital markets, regulatory perspectives, and the implications of infrastructure glitches for market stability.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Evolution and Risks of Bitcoin and Crypto Markets

• Crypto’s Market Role and Volatility
  • The Host opens with bitcoin’s dramatic rebound, noting its close correlation with broader markets and pointing out its deviation from the original decentralized vision.
    [00:29]
  • Gary Gensler's Viewpoint:
    • Reiterates that cryptocurrency is a "risk asset," highly speculative and volatile.
    • Warns investors to scrutinize underlying fundamentals of most tokens, especially beyond bitcoin and stablecoins.
    • Emphasizes that most tokens lack dividends or traditional returns and that the public must be cautious.
      Quote:

    "You have to ask yourself, what's the fundamentals? What's underlying it? You don't get a dividend, you don't get usual returns. And so the investing public just needs to be aware of those risks."
    (Gensler, 02:43)

2. Political Dynamics and Regulation of Crypto

• Crypto and U.S. Politics
  • Discussion on how recent political developments, including statements from Donald Trump, have politicized crypto, leading to concerns of partisanship and conflict.
  • Host questions whether crypto is now a Democrat vs. Republican issue, especially in light of headlines about political actors benefiting from crypto gains.
    [03:24]
  • Gensler’s Response:
    • Downplays partisan framing, refocuses on the need for fair, well-regulated markets.
    • Argues that the strength of U.S. capital markets comes from "common sense rules of the road," which need to apply fairly to all participants, big or small.
      Quote:

    "The US [capital markets] have the greatest capital markets and they benefit from common sense rules of the road... That's the fairness in these capital markets that are so important."
    (Gensler, 03:43)

3. ETFs and Increasing Centralization

• ETFs: Game-Changer for Crypto?
  • Host raises the impact of cryptocurrency ETFs, considering if they have changed the market by tying crypto more directly to stocks.
  • Gensler’s Insight:
    • Notes the historical movement of finance toward centralization, so it’s not surprising that crypto, once envisioned as decentralized, is getting more integrated into traditional markets (via ETFs).
    • Draws parallels to gold and silver ETFs.
      Quote:

    "Ever since antiquity, finance goes towards centralization. So it's not surprised that that which was started as a decentralized ecosystem... has become more integrated and more centralized."
    (Gensler, 04:31)

4. CME Outage: What Happened and Why It Matters

• Summary of the Incident
  • Host presses on the recent Chicago Mercantile Exchange outage and whether the CFTC should investigate.
  • Gensler explains that the outage stemmed from a failure in the cooling system (not the computers themselves) at a third-party data center during Thanksgiving evening, causing 10 hours of downtime.
    [05:27]
  • Regulatory and Operational Takeaways
    • Emphasizes that the CME and other major markets are critical infrastructure but downplays systemic risk from this specific event.
    • Points out the CME did not switch over to a backup data center due to the timing (Thanksgiving night), but would likely make a different decision if it occurred during a busy market day.
    • Notes a possible decrease in market liquidity if such an outage happened during business hours because not all trading firms have backup connectivity.
    • Suggests the importance of reviewing and learning from such events, especially regarding third-party data center reliance.
      Quote:

    "If this were to happen at 10am on a Monday, I think the management team would make a different decision and probably would switch over to the backup data center more quickly... you'd probably see a little less liquidity until they get back to that primary data center."
    (Gensler, 06:50)

5. Market Stability and Resilience

• Systemic Importance, but Not a Systemic Event
  • Gensler reinforces the view that while exchanges like CME and NYSE are "systemically important," the market infrastructure is generally robust and built to withstand unexpected outages with contingencies in place.
  • Asserts the event was more of a technical hiccup than a fundamental threat.
    Quote:

    "The New York Stock Exchange, CME, the clearinghouses are systemically important. No doubt about it, systemically important. But what happened here... the cooling system, as I understand, had a glitch."
    (Gensler, 06:50)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "You were counted out as little as a year and a half ago. But this signing is a massive validation."
  — Donald Trump on the nation's embrace of crypto [01:15]

• "Cryptocurrency is a risk asset... a highly speculative, volatile asset... The investing public just needs to be aware of those risks." — Gary Gensler [02:43]

• "Finance goes towards centralization... [the ecosystem] has become more integrated and more centralized." — Gary Gensler [04:31]

• "Systemically important [markets]... but the cooling system had a glitch... They didn't go to their backup data center." — Gary Gensler [06:50]

Segment Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------------|------------| | Bitcoin’s Market Action and Political Context | 00:29–01:47| | Gensler on Crypto Risk and Market Fundamentals | 02:15–02:43| | Politicalization of Crypto & Regulation | 03:24–03:43| | Impact of Crypto ETFs | 04:11–05:11| | The CME Outage Explained | 05:11–06:50| | Market Resilience & Lessons Learned | 06:50–08:05|

Tone and Style

The discussion maintains Bloomberg’s signature balance of directness and depth, blending journalistic inquiry with Gensler’s academic and regulatory expertise. Gensler is careful, candid, and often pragmatic, focusing on transparency, smart regulation, and practical lessons from market events.

For more on critical trends in finance, regulation, and crypto, this episode offers a level-headed insider’s perspective, especially for those navigating uncertain markets.