Author: Golden Finance
Former SEC commissioner Paul Atkins has become the leading candidate to serve as the chairman of the SEC under President-elect Trump.
According to financial journalist Eleanor Terrett's post on X, Atkins is known for his pro-innovation stance and crypto expertise, reportedly capable of "restoring what is referred to as the 'gold standard'" for the agency.
After Gary Gensler's resignation in January 2025, Atkins will become the SEC chairman, which means US cryptocurrency regulation may help promote 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 earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wofford College in 1980 and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Kappa Alpha Order.
Atkins's career began as a lawyer at the New York City law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, primarily handling a variety of corporate transactions for US and foreign clients, including public and private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He worked for two and a half years in the firm's Paris office and obtained a French legal advisor qualification in 1988.
Before being appointed as a commissioner, Atkins assisted financial services companies in improving compliance with SEC regulations and worked with enforcement agencies to investigate and rectify harm to investors. The most prominent case was the Bennett Funding Group, Inc., a $1 billion leasing company that committed the largest Ponzi fraud in US history at the time. Over 20,000 investors lost most of their investments. According to Atkins's resume at the SEC, he assisted the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee for the company and served as crisis president of 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 for the first two SEC chairmen, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt. Under Chairman Breeden, he helped improve corporate governance regulations, enhance shareholder communication, strengthen management accountability through proxy reforms, and lower 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, which included town hall meetings for first-time investors and the SEC's Consumer Affairs Advisory Committee.
Atkins served as a commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from July 9, 2002, until the end of his term in August 2008. He worked alongside Chairman Harvey Pitt, William H. Donaldson, and Christopher Cox.
In December 2016, Atkins participated in a business forum organized by President-elect Trump's team, providing strategic and policy advice on economic issues.
2. Atkins's 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, which provides services to major financial industry clients.
He is a strong supporter of digital assets and fintech companies. He has also testified before Congress to discuss how to restructure the agency's operations and reduce what some industry insiders consider redundant or overly burdensome regulations.
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's return to power. He has promised supporters that he will establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve, appoint crypto-friendly regulators, and end the outgoing administration's "anti-crypto campaign."
Under the new leadership, the SEC is expected to continue focusing on what is seen as its core mission: rooting out fraud, combating insider trading, stopping Ponzi schemes, and curbing inaccurate, misleading, or overly exaggerated information disclosures.
Atkins's leadership is expected to provide a more innovation-friendly environment for US cryptocurrency regulation, potentially reversing what critics call the current SEC leadership's overreach.
3. The new cryptocurrency direction of the Trump administration
Trump is considering transferring regulatory authority over cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency exchanges from the SEC to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (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 innovation advocate as early as 2017 when it approved Bitcoin. Giancarlo stated, "With adequate funding and the right leadership, I believe the CFTC can begin 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 administration have been confirmed. In addition, Trump has nominated several high-level officials in the past few 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 cryptocurrency 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 members of President-elect Trump's cabinet hold Bitcoin and are strong 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.
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 US in establishing regional alliances.
4. Predictions on whether Trump's presidency will benefit the crypto industry
Bullish voices:
Galaxy expects that active trading activity for the BlackRock IBIT ETF options will continue until January 2027, about halfway through Donald Trump's presidency. This concentrated long-term activity level reflects investor confidence in the long-term growth potential of Bitcoin ETFs, indicating bullish sentiment for the coming years.
Deenar co-founder Maruf Yusupov stated that the rapid rise of Bitcoin following Trump's victory in the US election might 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. With the acceleration of institutional adoption, a significant shift of capital from gold to digital assets may be seen. deVere Group CEO Nigel Green also noted that Bitcoin is increasingly viewed as a tool for hedging inflation and portfolio diversification, with institutional interest reaching historical highs and the infrastructure supporting large-scale adoption continuously expanding. Copper.co research director Fadi Aboualfa expressed a similar view, emphasizing that the price trend patterns between spot Bitcoin and gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are becoming increasingly similar.
Sky Mavis co-founder Jeffrey Zirlin stated in an interview that blockchain gaming and DeFi may benefit the most from Trump's presidency. Additionally, Trump's election will ease regulatory pressures on "token design" and allow for radical new innovations and experiments.
Ripple Labs CEO: "The crypto industry has accepted Trump; Trump has also accepted the crypto industry. I think this is very genuine, and I believe he sees the opportunities, the innovations, and the entrepreneurial spirit – I am very excited about the future."
QCP Capital stated in an official post that, given Bitcoin's strong upward trend since the US election, it believes that a 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 in anticipation of Trump's return to the White House. His idea of initiating a strategic BTC reserve and rotating from gold to BTC provides a strong bullish outlook 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's support for Bitcoin, claiming it would weaken the US economy. On Monday, Schiff posted on social media platform X: "When the government chooses winners and losers, it often chooses losers. Since the Trump administration has chosen Bitcoin, Wall Street is winning big, misallocating capital to Bitcoin and related value-destructive companies."
The non-profit cryptocurrency advocacy organization Coin Center warns that while Trump's victory is a net positive for the cryptocurrency industry, entrenched policies could still drive cryptocurrency innovators out of the United States. Coin Center's research director Van Valkenburgh shared three "serious threats" facing US cryptocurrency users and developers after 2025. The first major threat comes from the cryptocurrency reporting requirements under US tax law Section 6050I, which currently mandates that anyone receiving $10,000 in cryptocurrency must report it unconditionally to the IRS. Last August, Coin Center argued that these reporting requirements are unconstitutional. The second and third major threats stem from sanctions against Tornado Cash, including criminal charges of 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 troubling precedent for developers of unregulated crypto services.