A whole lot of stars would wish to align for Paul Atkins, reportedly president-elect Donald Trump’s prime candidate to chair the U.S. Securities and Change Fee, to take the job.
It’s an unattractive position for him due to the quantity of labor wanted to show across the bloated company he believes was mismanaged by outgoing SEC chair Gary Gensler, an individual aware of Atkins’ pondering mentioned.
Reluctance to scrub up Gensler’s “mess” has been shared by former Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee chair Chris Giancarlo, who has advocated for Atkins to take the SEC job and was as soon as thought of a candidate himself.
Atkins, a former SEC commissioner, was noticed at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort this week, one business supply mentioned. He was scheduled to interview for the SEC chair position Sunday and Monday, mentioned one other particular person with information of the conferences.
Atkins is the founder and CEO of Patomak World Companions, a world consulting agency specializing in technique, threat administration, and regulatory compliance. Patomak serves crypto corporations, however they’re a small a part of its diversified apply, which incorporates conventional monetary shoppers, public firms, commerce associations, regulation corporations, banks and insurance coverage firms. Previous to beginning Patomak, Atkins was a commissioner of the SEC from 2002 to 2008, appointed by former President George W. Bush. Throughout his time on the SEC, Mark Uyeda and Hester Pierce, who later turned commissioners, labored as counsel to Atkins.
Atkins is nicely regarded in conservative circles. Based on a supply near Atkins, he’s pleasant with Key Sq. Group founder Scott Bessent, the billionaire hedge fund supervisor chosen by Trump to develop into Treasury Secretary.
Atkins is reluctant to go away his apply, the particular person aware of his pondering mentioned. Taking over the SEC chair position would require him to resign from his enterprise pursuits, which he could solely do as soon as his agency is well-positioned to function with out him, sources mentioned.
Different candidates
Crypto legal professional Teresa Goody Guillén can be mentioned to be into account by the Trump transition crew. Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson and different crypto executives are privately and publicly supporting her primarily based on her pro-crypto views and expertise serving and arguing towards the SEC on behalf of blockchain shoppers. Guillén has declared on X that she needs to “Make Crypto Nice Once more” and has been polling the general public on the best methods the company might handle regulatory challenges.
Final week, crypto govt and former performing Comptroller of the Foreign money Brian Brooks was believed to be a lead candidate to helm the SEC, gathering sturdy help from Web3 proponents and at one level main the chances on prediction market Kalshi. However his lack of securities regulation expertise made him a longshot, sources mentioned.
Circle Chief Authorized Officer and Head of Company Affairs Heath Tarbert is reportedly being thought of. He’s a former CFTC chair, assistant Treasury secretary, and affiliate White Home counsel. “We cannot touch upon hypothesis,” mentioned a Circle spokesperson.
Brad Bondi was floated as a attainable candidate, and whereas he has been described as “pro-crypto,” critics privately mentioned he has little expertise in Web3, and is extra of a conventional securities lawyer with a background serving the SEC and opposing the company in court docket. However Bondi’s trump card, because it had been, may very well be his shut ties to the Trump administration. His sister Pam Bondi was nominated to develop into U.S. legal professional basic and is a Trump loyalist who represented the previous president throughout his 2020 impeachment trial.
Equally, former SEC funding administration director and Kirkland and Ellis associate Norm Champ is a Trump marketing campaign backer who informed CoinDesk “I’d be honored to function SEC Chair if President Trump thinks I’m the suitable particular person for the job.” However his conventional securities background has not gathered pleasure within the crypto neighborhood.
Trump’s choose for Manhattan’s U.S. legal professional, Jay Clayton, has strongly endorsed attorneys Robert Stebbins and Dalia Blass, sources mentioned, whom he supervised as SEC chief from 2017 to 2020. Crypto consultants have been outspoken towards them.
“Stebbins personally signed off, accepted and inspired 80 or so SEC crypto-related enforcement actions, together with probably the most controversial of all – the SEC case involving Ripple,” wrote Ripple Labs advocate and former SEC legal professional John Reed Stark on X. The SEC partially misplaced that case when a decide dominated that XRP gross sales by Ripple Labs on public exchanges didn’t fall underneath the definition of a safety; the company has mentioned it’s going to enchantment that call.
“Huge Crypto is very highly effective and could have numerous affect within the SEC Chair’s choice and I can’t think about Huge Crypto permitting Bob Stebbins to get the SEC Chair nomination,” Stark wrote.
Republican SEC commissioner Uyeda might develop into performing chair of the SEC after Gary Gensler steps down on inauguration day if the Senate does not verify his SEC choose by January 20. Commissioner Pierce, one other favourite for the position, has privately acknowledged she isn’t inquisitive about being the chair on an performing or everlasting foundation, which might enhance Uyeda’s probabilities. Whether or not he would keep within the position is much less sure.
“I anticipate Trump could choose to usher in somebody new of his personal,” crypto lawyer Jake Chervinsky acknowledged on X.
Robinhood chief authorized officer Dan Gallagher was mentioned to be a prime SEC chief candidate earlier than the election, however he has since mentioned he isn’t .
“I’ve made it clear that I don’t want to be thought of for this place.” Gallagher informed CoinDesk in an emailed assertion. “I really feel I could make large progress to democratize finance in my present position, and I’ll stay a vocal and constant advocate for constructive change in our markets.”
Atkins, Guillén, and Uyeda declined to remark for this story. Trump transition crew spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, Brooks, Brad Bondi, Stebbins, and Blass didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Washington consultants say the Trump administration will probably roll again the SEC’s oversight of the $3 trillion digital belongings market in favor of the CFTC. The latter company is broadly perceived to take a lighter contact as a result of the promote it regulates – derivatives – is dominated by refined institutional merchants moderately than retail traders with much less threat tolerance.
The SEC has led a wide-ranging marketing campaign towards digital belongings firms that was usually criticized as unfair. The five-member fee will moreover must fill a commissioner place following Jamie Lizárraga’s introduced departure. The crypto neighborhood is maintaining an in depth eye on the SEC chair choice course of, which is anticipated to conclude within the coming days.
