The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Paul Atkins as the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Fifty-two senators supported the nomination, 44 opposed, and four abstained from the vote.
President Donald Trump nominated Atkins for the SEC chairmanship in December 2024. Many in the crypto industry considered him a suitable choice, given his experience in the sector.
Atkins served as an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008 and later founded the consulting firm Patomak Global Partners, which counted crypto exchanges and DeFi projects among its clients.
In late March, the Senate Banking Committee approved Atkins’ nomination. Before the hearings, journalists discovered that the potential regulator head holds stakes in three crypto companies: Securitize, Anchorage Digital, and Off the Chain Capital.
During the discussions, some Democratic senators criticized Atkins for his connections to the collapsed exchange FTX. According to media reports, Patomak Global Partners signed a consulting contract with the crypto platform in early 2022.
In November 2022, FTX filed for bankruptcy. The exchange’s co-founder and CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, was found guilty of seven criminal offenses and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Republican Senator Tim Scott expressed hope during the hearings that under Atkins, “the SEC will return to its core mission and ensure our markets remain the envy of the world.”
The previous head of the agency, Gary Gensler, resigned on January 20 and returned as a professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mark Uyeda temporarily assumed the role of acting chairman. Under his leadership, the SEC established a task force on cryptocurrencies led by Hester Peirce. The commission halted investigations and legal proceedings against several industry companies and softened its stance on regulating digital assets and DeFi services.
Uyeda ordered a review of several previous SEC staff statements on cryptocurrencies, which should be “amended or rescinded in line with the agency’s current priorities.”