US President-elect Donald Trump has picked pro-crypto Paul Atkins as the next chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins will replace the current US SEC chair, Gary Gensler, who will resign on January 20, the same day Trump becomes president.
Donald Trump Picks Paul Atkins For US SEC Chair Role
In a post on the Truth Social platform, Donald Trump announced that he was nominating pro-crypto Paul Atkins for the US SEC chair role. The US president-elect mentioned that Atkins is a proven leader for “common sense” regulations.
Trump also alluded to the crypto industry, noting that Atkins also recognizes that digital assets and other innovations are critical to making America greater than ever. Considering his crypto stance, Atkins’ nomination for this job is undoubtedly bullish for the crypto industry. Trump’s new SEC pick could even be an ADA supporter, as he once spoke at a Cardano Summit.
Atkins also has ties to the Reserve Rights (RSR) crypto project, as he served in an advisory position when the project was in its infancy. As such, he is conversant with the crypto industry.
This development comes after weeks of speculation, during which names like Robinhood Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Dan Gallagher had come up as potential candidates to succeed Gensler. However, Dan Gallagher stepped out of the race when he clarified that he didn’t want the job.
Meanwhile, Paul Atkins’ nomination will delight individuals like pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton, who endorsed him for the job. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart also seems to support Atkins, commenting that his nomination for the job is “big” when rumors surfaced yesterday that Trump would pick Atkins.
Background As A Regulator
It is worth mentioning that Paul Atkins is a familiar face in the US SEC. He is a former SEC Commissioner who served between 2002 and 2008 in the George Bush administration. Interstingly, he appointed current Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda as counsels to his office during his time at the Commission.
Given their past working relationship, Atkins, alongside Peirce and Uyeda, can easily get the ball rolling toward creating a friendly regulatory environment for the crypto industry. Uyeda had mentioned before now that the next US SEC Chair will have a lot of work to do concerning addressing regulatory excesses at the Commission.
Meanwhile, Paul Atkins and his team will also have to deliberate on whether to approve the pending crypto ETF applications, as asset managers have filed for XRP, Solana, and Litecoin ETFs. Grayscale is the latest asset manager to file to offer a crypto ETF, seeking to convert its Grayscale Solana Trust to a Spot Solana ETF.
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