1 week ago
Former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins volition beryllium sworn successful arsenic the agency's adjacent seat and volition oversee aboriginal regularisation for the crypto sector.
Apr 9, 2025, 11:50 p.m.
Paul Atkins is conscionable 1 oath distant from taking implicit the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission arsenic President Donald Trump's prime to oversee the nation's securities assemblage — including immoderate relation the crypto assemblage plays successful that.
A swearing-in ceremonial volition soon enactment the erstwhile SEC committee successful complaint of the high-profile regulator — a substance cheered connected by the integer assets assemblage that sees him arsenic a beardown state aft his important inheritance advising crypto firms arsenic a financial-services advisor successful Washington. Atkins' Senate confirmation was easy cleared connected Wednesday successful a 52-44 vote.
The longtime fig successful U.S. fiscal argumentation — some successful authorities and arsenic an extracurricular advisor — was mostly expected to easy determination done confirmation, though the Senate Banking Committee approved Atkins on enactment lines, with each the panel's Democrats opposing the nominee.
Atkins' confirmation took the accustomed months to look from the Senate, and successful the clip betwixt the departure of predecessor Gary Gensler and Atkins' arrival, Trump's interim bureau chief, Mark Uyeda, carried retired an ambitious and rapidly deployed crypto overhaul. The SEC has thrown retired astir each of its high-profile integer assets enforcement actions, and its unit rapidly outlined a fig of segments of the manufacture that it considers extracurricular its jurisdiction — including immoderate stablecoins, memecoins (such arsenic the president's ain $TRUMP) and proof-of-work mining.
Many of the areas successful which the bureau has already demonstrated argumentation shifts overlap with Trump's household crypto businesses, including the family's memecoins and its ties to World Liberty Financial, which has pursued its ain stablecoin. Atkins volition beryllium taking implicit those issues to use imperishable standards, perchance directed by aboriginal authorities that's present a precedence successful Congress.
Atkins' tenure volition statesman with an incomplete commission, which is meant to person 5 members and whose sole Democrat — Caroline Crenshaw — is occupying an already expired term. The White House hasn't yet moved to capable the 2 Democratic positions connected the commission.
Jesse Hamilton
Jesse Hamilton is CoinDesk's lawman managing exertion connected the Global Policy and Regulation team, based successful Washington, D.C. Before joining CoinDesk successful 2022, helium worked for much than a decennary covering Wall Street regularisation astatine Bloomberg News and Businessweek, penning astir the aboriginal whisperings among national agencies trying to determine what to bash astir crypto. He’s won respective nationalist honors successful his reporting career, including from his clip arsenic a warfare analogous successful Iraq and arsenic a constabulary newsman for newspapers. Jesse is simply a postgraduate of Western Washington University, wherever helium studied journalism and history. He has nary crypto holdings.
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