Senate votes to appoint Paul Atkins to SEC
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Paul Atkins at his Senate Banking confirmation hearing in March. Photo: Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images
The Senate has voted 52-44 to confirm former Securities and Exchange Commission member, Paul Atkins, to return to the body as its chair, through June 5, 2026.
Why it matters: Atkins is seen as in line with the Republican Party's philosophy of market regulation, particularly with regard to digital asset policy (an area in which his predecessor became a flashpoint).
What they're saying: He contrast himself with his predecessor at his nomination hearing by saying, in his written testimony, "I have seen how ambiguous and non-existent regulations for digital assets create uncertainty in the market and inhibit innovation."
- The SEC, however, has not been waiting. It shed several cases initiated by the prior leadership (with a couple more serious ones only on pause) and divested itself of an obligation to monitor meme coins.
- Since then, it has begun a series of public forums to discuss how to approach crypto specific regulation.
Flashback: Atkins left the agency in 2008, as one of its five commissioners.
- Since then, he ran Patomak Global Partners, a prominent consultancy for banks and big financial firms.
- He was also an advocate for the crypto industry, particularly with the the Digital Chamber.
Friction point: The SEC has lost a lot of staff through buyouts and retirements in recent days, which could make it difficult for the new chief to move as nimbly as he might like.
💠Brady's thought bubble: A little appreciated reality is that there are no SEC regulations specific to decentralized digital assets.
- Indeed, Coinbase sued the agency to compel it to write such regulations.
- It's generally understood that crypto companies' attempts to register their efforts with the SEC failed (Robinhood's attempt is a case in point), and nearly all of the handful of tokens that were able to register had their underlying operations destroyed in the process.
The bottom line: Crypto critics may not like the forthcoming rules, but there will finally be some kind of rules before long.
