AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Paul Atkins for chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Atkins was an SEC commissioner under President George W. Bush and is a well-known figure in Washington's conservative financial world. He's also an outspoken supporter of the crypto industry and cochairs the Chamber of Digital Commerce's Token Alliance, an industry-led initiative to represent the sector.
If confirmed, Atkins will replace Gary Gensler, who has drawn the ire of much of the crypto community and plans to step down as chair on January 20.
"Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations," Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the pick. He added that Atkins "recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before."
Atkin's nomination puts Trump a step closer to fulfilling his promise to create a more crypto-friendly regulatory regime. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to fire Gensler, who crypto players have criticized for stifling innovation and creating uncertainty with his approach to regulating the industry.
Bitcoin and ethereum both rose on the news and were up 3.3% and 7.7%, respectively, around 3:40 p.m. ET. Bitcoin is once again testing the key $100,000 threshold that it nearly cleared last week before reversing course.
During his tenure, Gensler led the SEC on a crackdown on crypto issuers for dealing in what the agency said were unregistered securities. Industry insiders soured on his stance, blaming Gensler for pushing crypto business out of the US.
Following last month's news that Gensler would resign when Trump takes office, crypto token XRP rallied sharply to become the third largest coin by market capitalization. The token had languished in recent years as the SEC targeted issuer Ripple Labs for violating securities law. The market expects the agency to drop that lawsuit and many other crypto suits under Trump.
