Sources: Golden Finance, SEC, Bloomberg, CoinTelegraph, Wikipedia; compiled by Golden Finance.
Former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins has become the leading candidate to be the chair of the SEC under President-elect Trump's new administration.
According to financial journalist Eleanor Terrett's post on X, Atkins is known for his support of innovation and expertise in crypto, and is said to have the ability to 'restore the so-called gold standard' to the agency.
After Gary Gensler's resignation in January 2025, Atkins will become the SEC chairman, which means that U.S. cryptocurrency regulation may help foster innovation rather than hinder it.
(Former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins)
1. Who is Atkins?
Atkins was born in Lillington, North Carolina, and grew up in Tampa, Florida. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wofford College in 1980 and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Kappa Alpha Order.
Atkins' career began as a lawyer at the New York City law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he handled various corporate transactions for U.S. and foreign clients, including public and private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He worked in the firm's Paris office for two and a half years and obtained qualifications as a French legal advisor in 1988.
Before being appointed as a commissioner, Atkins assisted financial services firms in improving compliance with SEC regulations and worked with law enforcement to investigate and rectify cases where investors were harmed. Notably, he worked with Bennett Funding Group, Inc., a leasing company valued at $1 billion that was responsible for the largest 'Ponzi' fraud in U.S. history at the time. Over 20,000 investors lost most of their investments. According to Atkins' resume at the SEC, he assisted the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee for the company, serving as the crisis president for Bennett's only surviving subsidiary. By stabilizing finances and operations and rebuilding and expanding the business, he increased the stock value for remaining investors by nearly 2000%.
From 1990 to 1994, Atkins served as a staff member to the first two SEC chairmen, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt. Under Chairman Breeden, he assisted in improving corporate governance regulations, enhancing shareholder communication, strengthening management accountability through proxy reform, and lowering the barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises to enter the capital markets. Under Chairman Levitt, he was responsible for organizing the SEC's individual investor program, including initial investor town hall meetings and the SEC Consumer Affairs Advisory Committee.
Atkins served as a commissioner of the SEC from July 9, 2002, until the end of his term in August 2008. He worked with chairmen Harvey Pitt, William H. Donaldson, and Christopher Cox.
In December 2016, Atkins participated in a business forum organized by President-elect Trump, providing strategic and policy advice on economic issues.
2. Atkins' image as a defender of digital assets.
Atkins served as a Republican SEC commissioner during the George W. Bush administration and later founded a consulting firm, Patomak Global Partners, serving major financial industry clients.
He is a staunch supporter of digital assets and fintech companies. He has also testified before Congress on how to restructure the agency's operations and reduce what some industry insiders consider redundant or overly burdensome regulation.
The industry often criticizes the SEC under Gensler for making regulations through enforcement rather than clarifying how to comply with the rules, and this practice may change after Trump takes office again. He has promised his supporters that he will establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, appoint cryptocurrency-friendly regulators, and end the outgoing administration's 'anti-crypto campaign.'
Under new leadership, the SEC is expected to continue focusing on issues viewed as fundamental tasks: rooting out fraud, combating insider trading, stopping Ponzi schemes, and curbing inaccurate, misleading, or overly exaggerated disclosures.
Atkins' leadership is expected to provide a more innovation-friendly environment for U.S. cryptocurrency regulation, potentially reversing what critics call the current SEC leadership's overreach.
3. The new crypto direction of the Trump administration.
Trump is considering transferring regulatory authority over cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchanges from the SEC to the CFTC. Under the SEC's oversight, Bitcoin is classified as a commodity, and in the future, under the CFTC's leadership, Bitcoin will move towards a more innovative outlook. Previously, under former CFTC chairman Chris Giancarlo, the agency established itself as an advocate for innovation when it approved Bitcoin as early as 2017. Giancarlo stated, 'With sufficient funding and the right leadership, I believe the CFTC could start regulating digital commodities on the first day of Trump's presidency.'
As of November 23 local time, all cabinet minister candidates for Trump's new government have been confirmed, and in addition, Trump has nominated several high-level officials in recent weeks. From the list of the new government, in addition to well-known names in the crypto market like Musk and Howard Lutnick, several cabinet officials are staunch supporters of cryptocurrencies and have publicly disclosed their cryptocurrency holdings, including the nominated Vice President, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Director of National Intelligence.
Galaxy CEO Michael Novogratz stated in an interview with CNBC that almost all cabinet members of President-elect Trump hold Bitcoin and are staunch supporters of digital assets. He pointed out that these members support innovation, digital assets, and Bitcoin itself. Novogratz also mentioned that he would not be surprised if cryptocurrency prices rise further. The market is in a price discovery phase with limited supply.
For details, you can click on the Golden Finance article (A list of potential cabinet members under Trump: Who are the crypto-friendly figures?)
VanEck analysis suggests that, given Trump's strong support for Bitcoin and focus on repatriation and supply chains, El Salvador may become a strategic partner for the U.S. in establishing regional alliances.
4. Predictions on whether Trump's presidency will be beneficial for the crypto industry.
Voices of the bulls:
Galaxy expects active trading activity for BlackRock's IBIT ETF options to continue until January 2027, approximately half the time of Donald Trump's presidency, reflecting investors' confidence in the long-term growth potential of Bitcoin ETFs, signaling bullish sentiment for the coming years.
Maruf Yusupov, co-founder of Deenar, stated that Bitcoin's rapid rise following Trump's victory in the U.S. elections may be reshaping traditional views on inflation hedging. Trump's focus on tax cuts, tariffs, and cryptocurrencies is driving interest in Bitcoin as a modern alternative to gold. As institutional adoption accelerates, a significant shift of capital from gold to digital assets may be seen. Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, also stated that Bitcoin is increasingly seen as a tool for hedging inflation and diversifying portfolios, with institutional interest reaching historic highs and infrastructure supporting mass adoption continuously expanding. Fadi Aboualfa, research director at Copper.co, expressed a similar view, emphasizing that the price trend patterns between spot Bitcoin and gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are becoming increasingly similar.
Jeffrey Zirlin, co-founder of the blockchain gaming platform Sky Mavis, stated in an interview that blockchain gaming and DeFi may benefit the most from Trump's presidency. Moreover, Trump's election will alleviate the regulatory pressure on 'token design' and allow for radical new innovations and experiments.
Ripple Labs CEO: 'The crypto industry has embraced Trump; Trump has also embraced the crypto industry. I think this is very sincere, and I think he sees the opportunity, he sees innovation, he sees entrepreneurship—I am very excited about the future.'
QCP Capital stated on its official channel that given Bitcoin's strong upward trend since the U.S. elections, it believes the target price of $100,000 to $120,000 may not be far off. The potential strength of BTC represents a systemic shift in the market anticipating Trump's return to the White House. His idea of launching a strategic BTC reserve and rotating from gold to BTC provides a strong bullish perspective that could support BTC prices.
Voices of critics:
Economist and Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff's criticism of President-elect Donald Trump's support for cryptocurrency plans has sparked new controversy. Schiff criticized the Trump administration for supporting Bitcoin, claiming it would undermine the U.S. economy. On Monday, Schiff posted on social media platform X: 'When the government chooses winners and losers, it usually chooses losers. Since the Trump administration has chosen Bitcoin, Wall Street is winning big, misallocating capital to Bitcoin and related value-destructive enterprises.'
The nonprofit cryptocurrency advocacy organization Coin Center warns that while Trump's victory is a net positive for the cryptocurrency industry, entrenched policies may still scare cryptocurrency innovators away from the U.S. Coin Center's research director, Van Valkenburgh, shared three 'serious threats' facing U.S. cryptocurrency users and developers heading into 2025. The first major threat comes from the cryptocurrency reporting requirements under U.S. tax law Section 6050I, which currently mandates that anyone receiving $10,000 in cryptocurrency must report it unconditionally to the IRS. Coin Center deemed these reporting requirements unconstitutional last August. The second and third major threats stem from sanctions against Tornado Cash, including criminal charges for unlicensed money transmission against the mixing service and Samourai Wallet. Coin Center stated that the charges against Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm could set a concerning precedent for developers of unregulated crypto services.
