WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he intends to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Trump said Atkins, the CEO of Patomak Partners and a former SEC commissioner, was a “proven leader for common sense regulations.”
“He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The commission oversees U.S. securities markets and investments.
If confirmed next year by the new Republican-led Senate, Atkins would replace Gary Gensler as the commission’s chair.
Gensler has pushed for protections that he says better serve investors. But he has been a frequent target of critics who say that the SEC under his leadership has been overly zealous, if not hostile, toward the investment industry.
