End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller released the following statement slamming President-elect Donald Trump for nominating top crypto advocate Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has oversight of the crypto industry:
“Crypto was the highest spending industry to help elect Donald Trump and their top priority was new leadership at the SEC that would let them run roughshod over the American people. Now, with the selection of the co-chair of the crypto lobby Paul Atkins to lead the SEC, Trump is making good on that corrupt deal.
“The throughline in each of Trump’s Corrupt Cabinet nominations is clear: billionaires and corporate special interests that spent Big Money to elect Trump are getting nominations to ensure significant returns on their investments. It’s a corrupt scheme that benefits the wealthy at the expense of the American people.”
Read more:
Associated Press: Trump nominates cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins as SEC chair
- President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he intends to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- If confirmed next year by the new Republican-led Senate, Atkins would replace Gary Gensler as the commission’s chair. Gensler, who has been leading the U.S. government’s crackdown on the crypto industry, announced last month that he would be stepping down from his post on the day that Trump is inaugurated — Jan. 20, 2025.
- Crypto industry players welcomed Trump’s victory in the hopes that he would push through legislative and regulatory changes that they’ve long lobbied for.
- Trump also launched World Liberty Financial, a new venture with family members to trade cryptocurrencies.
New York Times: Trump Picks Paul Atkins to Run the S.E.C.
- Shortly after his term as S.E.C. commissioner ended in 2008, Mr. Atkins founded Patomak Global Partners, a financial services consulting firm. Patomak provides advisory services to banks and investment firms on regulatory and compliance matters. More recently, the firm has advised clients on issues related to crypto and digital assets.
- Mr. Atkins, a lawyer, has been playing an active role in helping to draft “best practices” for crypto trading platforms as co-chair of the Token Alliance, which is part of the Digital Chamber of Commerce. His nomination will need Senate confirmation.
- In tapping Mr. Atkins to serve as the nation’s top securities cop, Mr. Trump chose someone who is likely to take a lighter regulatory approach than the current S.E.C. chair, Gary Gensler. The fast-growing cryptocurrency market, in particular, has bristled against efforts to regulate it.
- The crypto industry spent tens of millions of dollars during this year’s presidential campaign to support candidates who favor softer regulation and seek to back away from the Biden administration’s crypto crackdown, which included lawsuits and criminal charges against some of the industry’s leading figures. Mr. Trump himself is now directly involved in the industry with a new cryptocurrency venture that was unveiled in September and will be run by his two oldest sons.
- Most of the criticism from the crypto industry and legislators — including Democrats — has centered on Mr. Gensler’s decision to treat all crypto assets as regulated securities. Critics say crypto assets should be treated as either commodities or digital currencies and therefore out of the reach of the S.E.C.
- During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump promised to end the S.E.C.’s legal crackdown on crypto.
- The S.E.C. is now likely to either take a hands-off approach to crypto or be selective in which crypto assets it designates as securities and therefore subject to regulation and enforcement actions. The new regulator’s go-lightly approach would probably dovetail with a renewed push in the Republican-controlled Congress to pass a law that removes most digital assets from the S.E.C.’s jurisdiction.
- One of the first things the new chair will have to decide is whether to continue the high-profile enforcement action the S.E.C. filed against Coinbase, a big crypto exchange. The S.E.C. charged the company with violating securities law by failing to register as a broker and allowing unregistered crypto assets to be sold on its platform. It was one of Mr. Gensler’s signature cases.
###