Jay Clayton steps down as head of the U.S. SEC

On Wednesday, December 23, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Jay Clayton, left the post after more than three years at the agency. This is stated in a statement on the site.

Statement from Chairman Jay Clayton on his last day at the SEC https://t.co/yKbzw9WDR5

— SEC_News (@SEC_News) December 23, 2020

Clayton took the helm as head of the agency on May 4, 2017. During his tenure the SEC secured orders totalling more than $14 billion in penalties and disgorgement and returned $3.5 billion to investors.

The regulator also paid whistleblowers $565 million, including a record award in the history of the program — $114 million. For the 2020 financial year, $4.68 billion was collected, of which $1.26 billion came from the Telegram ICO and cryptocurrency token sales.

Under Clayton’s leadership, regulated futures based on Bitcoin and Ethereum were launched, but applications to launch ETFs based on the first cryptocurrency have not been approved.

In November Clayton confirmed that he would step down by the end of 2020.

Earlier in December the SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. In the regulator’s view, the company sold unregistered securities in the form of tokens.

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