The incoming Trump administration is checking off key appointments left and right. For the cryptocurrency industry, the one to watch is that of chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Why it matters: Personnel is policy.

• The right appointment could convince many more actors in the economy that the time has come to get involved in building on blockchains.

State of play: Here are the candidates that have been floated out there.

Brian Brooks. Brooks has served a lot of roles in the crypto industry (Coinbase alum, Bitfury CEO), but he's probably best known for his tenure at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, where he was appointed in the prior Trump administration.

• He's specifically called out the Biden administration's efforts to debank crypto firms.
• Reports have been swirling that Brooks has actually visited Mar-A-Lago.

Paul Atkins. A former SEC chair under the second President Bush (2002 to 2008), Atkins could return to the post. In the years between he's become an advocate for the digital-asset industry.

• He has since founded a consultancy, Patomak Global Partners, and has worked with the industry advocacy group the Digital Chamber of Commerce since 2017.

Behind the scenes: One crypto lobbyist told us that these seemed to be the two strongest candidates right now, but that this is very much a moving target, with things changing all the time.

• The office of Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the likely chair of the Banking Committee in the next Congress, was not able to shed further light on the topic to Axios.

Other candidates include:

Dan Gallagher. A former longtime staff member at the SEC, Gallagher's now on the legal team for Robinhood, the popular investing app which has also become a way to trade cryptocurrencies.

• At a subcommittee hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, he described how, under the existing regulatory scheme, the SEC could start floating rules designed specifically for decentralized assets.
• In written testimony, he described Robinhood's frustrated attempts trying to register as a trading venue for digital assets with his old agency.

Robert Stebbins. A partner at the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Stebbins served as the SEC's general counsel during the prior Trump administration.

• Which means he worked at the SEC when it brought its case against Ripple over its cryptocurrency, XRP — an action which began at the very end of the Trump administration.
• Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has been making noises opposing Stebbins. He's the only person on this list without obvious pro-crypto bonafides.

By the numbers: On Kalshi, the favorite pick is Brooks, but that market has been all over the place.

The bottom line: We won't know until we know — and then they have to get through the Senate, but it's a friendly Senate.

With the temperature getting cooler and the sun setting sooner, you might just find people slipping into your direct messages to... ask you for money.

State of play: Any time there's a boom in cryptocurrency prices, the con artists come out to play.

• Some old familiar cons happen every bull cycle.

What to watch: If someone shows up in your text messages on any platform asking you for money — take a breath.

• (Especially if it's on the messaging app Telegram.)
• Fraudsters are notorious for creating copycat profiles of real people, in order to beg money from their real contacts.
• They will often try to create urgency, such as saying they are having some kind of emergency.

Flashback: In 2019 and 2020, there was a big move to make profiles that looked like those of cryptocurrency reporters and then go to startup founders and ask for money in exchange for coverage.

• Lots of people got messages like this from "Brody Dale" or "Brady Dalë" — none of it was real.
• The worst part: They often used my least favorite photo on the internet to set up these cons. Yech!

The bottom line: If the profile looks like one of your friends, you probably have a way to reach them on another channel. Try that to check, and let them know that someone is using their name in a scheme.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) is indicating to allies that Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) is his pick to serve as chair of the House Financial Services Committee, according to people familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: Scalise's support gives Barr a clear advantage to win one of the most coveted committee gavels in the next Congress.

• The chair will help set the financial services agenda for President-elect Trump's second administration and handle legislation on everything from cryptocurrency to banking and the pot industry.
• Current Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) is leaving Congress at the end of the year.
• Reps. French Hill (R-Ark.), Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) and Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) are also interested in the position.

Driving the news: The House GOP's steering committee was expected to finalize its makeup yesterday, with plans to meet after the Thanksgiving break to determine committee chairs.

• The battle for Financial Services has attracted intense interest — both on Capitol Hill and in the banking community on K Street.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has the most votes on the steering committee, with four. While he hasn't tipped his hand on Financial Services, Republican aides and lawmakers think he's essentially neutral.

• They also note that Hill voted "present" in Johnson's speakership election, making it less likely that Johnson would expend political capital to give him the gavel.
• Scalise, as majority leader, has two votes. If he and Johnson are aligned, they can effectively steer the rest of the committee.

What they're saying: Barr has put out a pamphlet on his candidacy, where he talks about legislation to restore the American dream.

• "To achieve this goal, to secure American economic leadership in the world, and to prevent cutting edge technologies from being developed outside of the United States, we must foster innovation in fintech and digital assets," Barr tells Axios.
• He specifically cited the need for legislation around which agency regulates different kinds of digital assets (market structure) and stablecoins.

The intrigue: One factor that could hurt Barr's chances: concerns about his long-term intentions to stay in the House.

• Some of his colleagues suspect he wants to run for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) seat in Kentucky when he retires.

For more on the Congress members vying for this role, go deeper.

👨‍⚖️ The last FTX exec to face sentencing, former chief coder Gary Wang, won't have to serve any jail time. (CoinDesk)

🎢 The supply of stablecoins has hit a new all-time high, giving the crypto market unprecedented liquidity on chain. (Unchained)

🕵️‍♂️ Coinbase and Binance are making a lot of money validating the Solana blockchain so their users can earn staking rewards. (Blockworks)

This tweet is even better if you click through and can see the whole meme.

Context: ETH. Poor ETH. It's just not been showing much life.

• Usually in a bull run ETH chases BTC up, like a little brother who goes everywhere his big brother goes.
• This time, it's been pretty dead, comparatively. ETH is up around half for the year. BTC has more than doubled its price.

The latest: Today was a good one for the second largest cryptocurrency though, but the ETH:BTC ratio has been tanking all year.