Text size

US President-elect Donald Trump appointed veteran Washington lawyer Paul Atkins as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a move welcomed by the cryptocurrency industry.

Atkins, an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008, founded the risk advisory firm Pomak Global Partners in 2009, whose clients include companies in the banking, trading and cryptocurrency industries.

A Trump transition announcement said Atkins has served as co-chair of the Digital Chamber of Commerce, which promotes the use of digital assets, since 2017.

“Paul is a proven leader for common-sense regulations,” Trump said in a statement highlighting Atkins’ commitment to “robust, innovative” capital markets.

“He also recognizes that digital assets and other innovations are critical to making America greater than ever,” Trump added.

During the presidential campaign, Trump received strong financial support from cryptocurrency supporters, some of whom are also close to the Republican’s mega-donor Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

The digital assets industry is hoping for a change at the SEC, with outgoing chairman Gary Gensler taking a hostile stance towards the sector.

Gensler has called the cryptocurrency world “the Wild West” and has filed lawsuits against major trading platforms such as Binance, Coinbase and Kraken, as well as various smaller startups.

The SEC chairman also backed controversial measures that would require publicly traded companies to measure their exposure to climate change.

Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith welcomed the nomination, calling Atkins an “outstanding” choice.

“The last four years under Chairman Gensler have been a non-stop anti-crypto crusade, resulting in a halt in innovation and incalculable job, talent and economic losses,” she said on X, the former Twitter.

jmb/aha