Donald Trump nominated Paul Atkins for the SEC commissioner position following the exits of Gary Gensler and Jaime Lizárraga.
And according to Hester Peirce, who leads the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, the agency will most likely wait for Senate confirmation of a chair before moving forward with its digital asset agenda.
While speaking at a Federalist Society panel on February 11, Commissioner Peirce noted that the SEC would act “a little prematurely” if it moved forward with crypto regulations before the Senate officially confirmed a new chair.
After Gary Gensler exited on January 20, Mark Uyeda stepped into the role of acting chair. However, the Senate is expected to vote shortly on Trump’s nominee, former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins.
“Acting Chairman Uyeda is doing a great job, and the agenda is working — we haven’t stopped working,” said Peirce. “But we assume that sometime soon, if Chairman Atkins is confirmed as chairman, he’ll come in and want to set his agenda.”
Trump nominated Atkins for an SEC commissioner position on January 28, a week after taking office, for a term lasting until June 2031.
As of February 11, the Senate Banking Committee had not yet reviewed his nomination. To push Trump’s nominee to the full Senate for consideration, a majority of attending senators would need to vote in favor.
Peirce noted that the SEC was still assessing how to proceed with digital asset regulations.
In January, an appellate court ruled that the SEC would not be ordered to set clear regulations for the crypto industry. However, the court largely agreed with Coinbase’s view that the commission had acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” way when it denied the rulemaking request.
The SEC created the Crypto Task Force and then requested delays for at least two enforcement actions in separate jurisdictions. These actions signaled that its regulatory framework efforts could influence its legal strategy.
An Illinois judge granted the SEC a 30-day extension in its case against Cumberland DRW, whereas a District of Columbia court had not responded to a similar request concerning Binance by the time of publication.
At the moment, the SEC includes Republicans Peirce and Uyeda, along with Democrat Caroline Crenshaw.
Trump has not yet clarified whether he intends to appoint a fifth commissioner to the SEC if the Senate confirms Atkins.
