Senate Confirms Paul Atkins as New SEC Chair

A longtime adviser to crypto currency firms, Atkins is expected to take a friendly approach to crypto regulation.

Patomak Global Partners CEO Paul Atkins takes part in a strategic and policy CEO discussion with President Donald Trump in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington on April 11, 2017. Joshua Roberts/Reuters

The Senate voted on April 9 to confirm Paul Atkins, a former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to return to the agency—this time as its chair.

Atkins’s confirmation passed in a 52–44 vote following a party-line approval from the Senate Banking Committee last week.