Crypto-friendly Paul Atkins just inched closer to succeeding Gary Gensler as the next chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after passing a key vote from the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. Senate Banking Committee Advances Paul Atkins To Lead SEC The U.S. Senate Banking Committee voted 13 to 11 on April 3 to move forward with Atkins’ nomination, with all the Democrats opposing Trump’s pick. Atkin’s nomination will now move to the Republican-controlled Senate for a full floor vote, after which he will serve two consecutive terms as an SEC commissioner, taking over from former Chair Gary Gensler’s who departed in January. Atkins is an SEC veteran who previously served as an agency commissioner under President George W. Bush. He is an advocate for market deregulation, and many are expecting him to create more friendly policies for the crypto industry. “Paul Atkins, a former SEC commissioner, will promote capital formation and provide much-needed clarity for digital assets,” Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott said. “Under his leadership, the SEC will return to its core mission and will ensure our markets remain the envy of the world.” Implications Of New SEC Leadership On Crypto During a confirmation hearing before the Senate last week, Atkins asserted that instituting a “regulatory foundation for digital assets” will be a “top priority” of his chairmanship. But during that hearing, Atkins received a lot of heat from Senator Elizabeth Warren, a vocal crypto skeptic and Ranking Member of the Banking Committee, over his connections to the failed FTX crypto exchange and President Trump’s possible conflicts of interest amid ties to the family-backed crypto project World Liberty Financial. Many industry experts lambasted crypto foe Gensler for his “regulation by enforcement” approach to digital assets, with the commission lodging lawsuits against crypto companies and projects over alleged violations of securities laws. With Atkins yet to formally take the reins at the SEC, the agency has nonetheless taken a new and different approach to regulating crypto. The SEC has already created multiple policies favorable to the crypto sector, including rescinding the disastrous crypto accounting guidance . Moreover, under acting chair Mark Uyeda , the agency has moved to dismiss almost every single one of its enforcement actions against leading crypto-related companies, including Ripple and Coinbase .
