(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has interviewed Paul Atkins, a veteran financial regulator and eminence grise of conservative financial circles, as a candidate to lead the US Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with the matter.
Atkins is a top contender for the job to replace outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the people said, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Trump is expected to make a pick in the coming days, and no decisions have been made, they said.
Current SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda, Heath Tarbert, a former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Robert Stebbins, a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, are also among those being considered for the job, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month.
Earlier: Farley, Champ Among Candidates to Succeed Gensler as SEC Chair
“President-Elect Trump has made brilliant decisions on who will serve in his second Administration at lightning pace. Remaining decisions will continue to be announced by him when they are made,” Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Atkins and his representatives did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
Digital Asset Defender
Atkins served as a Republican SEC commissioner during the George W. Bush administration, after which he founded Patomak Global Partners, a consulting firm for major financial industry clients.
He is a strong proponent of digital assets and fintech companies. He has also testified before Congress on ways to restructure the agency’s operations and reduce what some industry participants would consider duplicative or overly burdensome regulations.
Trump had promised to fire Gensler on “day one,” a vow that became moot when the former Goldman Sachs banker announced earlier this month he would step down in January. Gensler led the SEC with an ambitious agenda, cracking down on crypto, following a series of high-profile collapses, including the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange.
Gensler’s SEC was frequently criticized by the industry as making regulations via enforcement instead of making clear how to play by the rules, an approach that could change under the new administration. Trump embraced cryptocurrency during his campaign, after once describing it as a scam against the dollar. He promised supporters he’d create a strategic Bitcoin stockpile, appoint crypto-friendly regulators and end the outgoing administration’s “anti-crypto crusade.”
The SEC under its new chief is expected to stay focused on what’s considered bread-and-butter priorities: rooting out fraud, taking aim at insider trading, stopping Ponzi schemes and curbing inaccurate, misleading or overly lofty disclosures.
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