President-elect Donald Trump announced Dec. 4 that he will nominate Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Atkins, CEO at Patomak Global Partners and former SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008, would, if confirmed, replace SEC Chair Gary Gensler atop the financial regulator.
“Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are response to the needs of Investors, & that prove 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.”
Marc Elovitz, co-managing partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel, said in a statement that Atkins is a “seasoned financial regulator with a deep understanding of the complexities of the markets.”
Atkins has been a thought leader on financial technology and digital assets and would be able to hit the ground running to “reform the muddled state of cryptocurrency regulation,” Elovitz added. “He is very well positioned to promote an innovation agenda at the SEC. He knows the plumbing of the financial systems as well as the inner workings of the SEC itself. I would look to him to cut through a lot of red tape and really provide a boost to our capital markets and to investors.”
Atkins since 2017 has led industry efforts to develop best practices for digital asset issuances and trading platforms as co-chair of the Token Alliance, according to his Patomak Global Partners biography. The Chamber of Digital Commerce describes the Token Alliance as an industry-led initiative "developed to be a key resource for tokenized networks and applications."
Following Trump's announcement, the immediate response from financial industry groups was positive.
“His leadership will be vital to ensuring the strength, fairness and integrity of our financial markets,” Investment Company Institute President and CEO Eric J. Pan, said in a statement. “We look forward to working with him to promote the interests of registered funds and the more than 120 million investors they serve.”
Chris Iacovella, president and CEO of the American Securities Association, said in a statement that Atkins is “well-versed on investor protection, capital markets, market structure and public company issues. We look forward to working with him to rebuild the public’s trust and confidence in the agency.”
