Trump to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins as SEC chairman

President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he plans to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Trump said Atkins, CEO of Patomak Partners and former SEC commissioner, was a “proven leader on common-sense regulation.” In the years since his departure from the SEC, Atkins has argued against too much regulation of the market.

“He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that meet the needs of investors and provide capital to make our economy the best in the world. It also recognizes that digital assets and other innovations are crucial to making America great. than ever,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The commission oversees U.S. securities markets and investments and is currently headed by Gary Gensler, who led the U.S. government's crackdown on the crypto industry. Gensler, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, announced last month that he would leave his post on Trump's Inauguration Day, January 20, 2025.

Trump, once a crypto skeptic, pledged to make the United States “the crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” of bitcoin. Money has flowed into crypto assets since he won. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, is now above $95,000. And shares of crypto platform Coinbase have surged more than 70% since the election.

Paul Grewal, Coinbase's chief legal officer, praised Atkins in an article on X.

“We appreciate his commitment to balanced regulation of the U.S. securities markets and look forward to his new leadership at the SEC,” Grewal wrote. “It’s absolutely necessary and it can’t come a day too soon.”

Congressman Brad Sherman, a California Democrat and ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, said he was concerned that Atkins would not sufficiently regulate cryptocurrencies as SEC chairman.

“He would probably take the view that no cryptocurrency is a security, and therefore no exchange dealing in crypto is a securities exchange,” Sherman said. “There would be a very significant opportunity to defraud investors.”

Atkins began his career as a lawyer and has a long history of working in the financial markets industry, both in government and the private sector. In the 1990s, he worked on the staffs of two former SEC chairmen, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt.

His work as SEC commissioner began in 2002, at a time when the fallout from the Enron and WorldCom scandals had ratcheted up pressure on Wall Street and its government regulators.

Atkins was widely considered the most conservative member of the SEC during his tenure at the agency and was known to have a strong free-market bias. As commissioner, he called for greater transparency and analysis of the costs and benefits of the SEC's new rules.

He also focused on investor education and increasing enforcement efforts against those who steal from investors on the Internet, manipulate markets, engage in Ponzi schemes and other types of fraud.

At the same time, Atkins opposed harsh penalties for companies accused of fraudulent conduct, saying they did not deter crime. He caused a sensation in the summer of 2006 by asserting that the practice of granting stock options to executives before the disclosure of news likely to increase the share price did not constitute a criminal offense. 'initiated.

U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, Republican of North Carolina and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Atkins has the experience needed to “restore confidence in the SEC.”

“I am confident that his leadership will bring clarity to the digital asset ecosystem and ensure that U.S. financial markets remain the envy of the world,” McHenry said on X.

Atkins already has some experience working for Trump. During Trump's first term, Atkins was a member of the President's Strategic and Policy Forum, an advisory group of more than a dozen CEOs and business leaders who provided input on how to create jobs and to accelerate economic growth.

In 2017, Atkins joined Token Alliance, a cryptocurrency advocacy organization.

Crypto industry players welcomed Trump's victory in hopes that he will push through the legislative and regulatory changes they have long pushed for.

Trump himself launched World Liberty Financial, a new company with members of his family to trade cryptocurrencies.

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