- President-elect Donald Trump has chosen a crypto-friendly lawyer to lead the SEC.
- Paul Atkins previously served as a commissioner of the agency and led an initiative to improve token issuance.
US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, the nation’s top financial regulator and the scourge of crypto executives under outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration.
“Paul is a recognized leader in sensible regulation. He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of investors and provide capital to make our economy the best in the world,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media site, Truth Social.
“It also recognizes that digital assets and other innovations are crucial to making America greater than ever.”
If confirmed by the Senate, Atkins would replace outgoing Chairman Gary Gensler, who recently announced his decision to leave the agency on Jan. 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration.
Representatives for Atkin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Greg Xethalis, general counsel at crypto venture capital firm Multicoin Capital, predicted that Atkins would have a “relatively clean path” to Senate confirmation, citing his first appointment to the agency in 2002.
Atkins co-founded the consulting firm Patomak Global Partners after a six-year term as SEC commissioner under George W. Bush.
Atkins has several ties to the crypto industry. The attorney serves on the advisory board of The Digital Chamber, a crypto lobbying firm, and co-led its Token Alliance initiative, an effort to develop “best practices for digital asset issuances and trading platforms.” He also serves on the advisory board of Securitize, the transfer agent for BlackRock’s Ethereum-based tokenized money market fund.
Join the community to receive our latest stories and updates
Patomak’s clients include crypto exchanges and DeFi platforms. A token issued by Reserve, a crypto firm that Atkins once advised, surged more than 40% on Tuesday, when crypto publication Unchained broke the news of the selection.
“This is good news for the crypto industry and US financial markets,” Xethalis wrote on X.
“Atkins supports cryptography. He knows enough to seize the opportunity to implement reforms that will allow this industry to grow responsibly, onshore.
Atkins is one of the few Trump nominees with ties to the crypto industry.
Once cautious about crypto, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — a veteran hedge fund manager — praised Trump’s pro-industry stance in a July interview, in contrast to the Party’s less dovish approach Democrat.
“Crypto is about freedom, and the crypto economy is here to stay,” he said.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald. The company reportedly manages most of Tether’s $132 billion in assets, earning it tens of millions of dollars a year in fees.
Cantor also plans to launch a Bitcoin-backed lending program with the backing of Tether and recently acquired a 5% stake in Tether valued at $600 million.
Together, Atkins, Bessent and Lutnick suggest a coming sea change in government crypto policy.
Under Biden, regulators have been accused of trying to push the industry overseas by dissuading banks from serving crypto customers and effectively issuing new regulations via lawsuits — a tactic the industry has dubbed “regulatory by application”.
According to an analysis by crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, more than half of the crypto-related enforcement actions taken by the SEC since 2015 occurred during Gensler’s three-year tenure.
“During Chairman Gensler’s tenure, the agency filed lawsuits against crypto intermediaries for fraud, fictitious transactions, registration violations, and other misconduct,” said a press release announcing his planned resignation.
In the last fiscal year, “18% of SEC advice, complaints and referrals were crypto-related, although crypto markets represent less than 1% of U.S. capital markets,” the statement added.
In 2016, The Wall Street Journal called Atkins “Trump’s point man on financial regulation” and someone who “prefers a light touch.”
Aleks Gilbert is a DeFi correspondent based in New York. Do you have any advice? Contact him at aleks@dlnews.com.
