Trump’s SEC Pick Pledges ‘Coherent’ Crypto Rules

The nominee of US President Donald Trump to head up the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has outlined his approach to cryptocurrencies.

Trump’s pick for chairman of the SEC, Paul Atkins pledged a “rational, coherent, and principled approach” for digital assets, if he is chosen to lead the US financial regulator.

Paul Atkins is a noted cryptocurrency advocate, but his confirmation process has been delayed due to extensive financial disclosures related to his family’s wealth and professional ties to crypto exchanges and DeFi platforms.

Paul Atkins

Atkins reportedly owns up to $6 million in crypto-related investments, but does not directly hold crypto assets such as Bitcoin.

As part of his ethics agreement, he has committed to divesting his holdings if confirmed to lead the securities agency.

Atkins is currently the CEO of Patomak Partners, a strategy, risk management, and compliance consultancy, and he had served as an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008 following his appointment by then President George W. Bush.

In the years since leaving the SEC, Atkins had made the case against too much market regulation.

Now Cryptobriefing.com has reported that Paul Atkins pledged before a Senate Committee to establish clear regulatory guidelines for digital assets if confirmed to lead the SEC.

“A top priority of my chairmanship will be to work with my fellow Commissioners and Congress to provide a firm regulatory foundation for digital assets through a rational, coherent, and principled approach,” Atkins stated in his testimony.

The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee is holding an open session hearing on Thursday to evaluate Atkins’ nomination as SEC Chair.

Atkins reportedly noted that “ambiguous and non-existent regulations for digital assets create uncertainty in the market and inhibit innovation.”

If confirmed, Atkins reportedly said he would prioritise protecting investors from fraud, keeping politics out of securities regulation, and advancing clear guidelines that encourage investment in the US economy.

If his nomination is approved by the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, it will proceed to a full Senate vote.

But with Trump’s Republican party holding a majority in the Senate, Atkins is highly likely to be confirmed to be the SEC chairman.

Marked contrast

The stance of Paul Atkins is in marked contrast to the hostile approach of former SEC chairman, Gary Gensler, who was appointed by President Biden in 2021 and had started his tenure calling crypto the ‘wild west’.

Trump had previously promised to fire Gensler, for leading a drive to more closely regulate crypto firms under existing securities regulations.

But Gensler stepped down on 20 January 2025 – the day Trump was inaugurated.

In one of his last interviews before leaving office, Gary Gensler issued a stark warning about the current cryptocurrency industry, pointing out that crypto was less than 1 percent of the financial markets, but the crypto sector takes about 5 percent of the SEC’s law enforcement time (95 percent is focused on scammers, fraud etc).

“But in this (crypto) field, it is rife with bad actors,” Gensler stated in January. “I’ve been around finance for over four decades and everything in the markets trade on a mixture of fundamentals and sentiment. At any given time, I’ve never seen a field that’s so much wrapped up in sentiment and not so much about fundamentals.”

Gensler had also warned that many of the 10,000 to 15,00 crypto projects will not survive.