Trump Nominates Paul Atkins to Lead Securities and Exchange Commission

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Paul Atkins as SEC Chair, signaling a shift toward fewer regulations and crypto-friendly policies.

Paul Atkins, former commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission and visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, testifies at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Sept. 15, 2011. Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with the former SEC commissioner and finance veteran expected to take a crypto-friendly stance and push for fewer regulations under the Trump administration.

Trump made the announcement in a Dec. 4 post on Truth Social, in which he singled out Atkins’s past advocacy for lower regulatory burdens and greater financial innovation.