Newly elected President Donald Trump announced this on Wednesday He intends to enroll Cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins will be chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Trump said Atkins, CEO of Patomac Partners and a former SEC commissioner, was “a proven leader for common-sense regulations.” In the years since leaving the SEC, Atkins has made the case against too much market regulation.
“He believes in the promise of strong, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of investors, and that provide the capital to make our economy the best in the world. He also believes that digital assets and other innovations will help America More important than ever to make America great,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The commission oversees the US securities markets and investments and is currently led by Gary Gensler, who has been leading the US government's crackdown on the crypto industry. Gensler, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, announced Last month it was said that Trump would step down from his post on the day he is sworn in – January 20, 2025.
Trump, once a crypto skeptic, Promised to make America the “crypto capital of the planet” And create a “strategic reserve” of Bitcoin. Money has poured into crypto assets since he won. The largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin is now above $95,000. And shares of crypto platform Coinbase have risen more than 70% since the election.
Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal congratulated Atkins in a post on X.
“We applaud his commitment to balance in regulating U.S. securities markets and look forward to his new leadership at the (SEC),” Grewal wrote. “This is desperately needed and it can't come a day too soon.”
Congressman Brad Sherman, a California Democrat and a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, said he is concerned that Atkins will not adequately regulate cryptocurrencies as SEC chair.
“He would probably take the position that no cryptocurrency is a security, and therefore no crypto-related exchange is a security exchange,” Sherman said. “There will be an opportunity to defraud investors in a very significant way.”
Atkins began his career as a lawyer and has a long history of working in the financial markets sector in both government and private practice. In the 1990s, he served 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 corporate scandals at Enron and WorldCom had increased 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 for having a strong free-market leanings. As a commissioner, he called for greater transparency and analysis of the costs and benefits of new SEC rules.
He also emphasized investor education and increased enforcement efforts against those who steal from investors over the Internet, manipulate the markets, engage in Ponzi schemes and other types of fraud.
Also, Atkins objected to the harsh penalties imposed on companies accused of fraudulent conduct, arguing that they did not deter crime. He caused a stir in the summer of 2006 when he said that the practice of granting stock options to executives before the disclosure of news, which was certain to increase the stock price, was not insider trading.
U.S. Representative Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican 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 US capital markets remain the envy of the world,” McHenry posted 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 that provided input on how to create jobs and drive economic growth. .
In 2017, Atkins joined Token Alliance, a cryptocurrency advocacy organization.
Crypto industry players welcomed Trump's victory in hopes that he would advance the legislative and regulatory changes they have long been lobbying for.
Trump himself has launched World Liberty Financial, a new venture with family members to trade cryptocurrencies.