2 months ago
Paul Atkins, the erstwhile subordinate of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that President Donald Trump has tapped to tally the agency, assured a antithetic absorption for the bureau connected crypto from the past 4 years, though helium wasn't pressed with big-picture integer assets questions during a Thursday confirmation hearing.
Now that Trump has secured the cabinet-level echelon of his government, the White House is moving connected shepherding apical bureau chiefs done the Senate confirmation process. While galore of the crypto headlines are coming from the medication and Congress these days, those moving the regulatory agencies volition yet beryllium the ones penning the regulations the manufacture volition person to conform with.
Atkins is seeking to beryllium the successor of ex-Chair Gary Gensler, whose years astatine the bureau established him arsenic the integer assets sector's astir salient nemesis. But Trump's nominee is already positioning himself successful stark opposition to Gensler, who criticized the industry's past with swindlers and contended that existent securities instrumentality was capable to dainty overmuch of the abstraction arsenic if it were successful progressive usurpation of registration requirements.
"A apical precedence of my chairmanship volition beryllium to enactment with my chap commissioners and Congress to supply a steadfast regulatory instauration for integer assets done a rational, coherent, and principled approach," Atkins said successful his prepared testimony for Thursday.
Senator Tim Scott, the South Carolina Republican who chairs the committee, said Atkins volition "provide long-overdue clarity for integer assets."
But adjacent earlier the proceeding began, Atkins was being slammed by Senator Elizabether Warren, the Massachusetts lawmaker who is the committee's ranking Democrat, who registered uncertainty astir his ability to beryllium impartial to the integer assets assemblage he's served arsenic an adviser.
At the proceeding array beside Atkins, Gould made his lawsuit for taking implicit the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the regulator for nationalist banks. The OCC has been a important subordinate successful the integer assets sector's run against U.S. banking oversight that's pressured banks to support the manufacture astatine an arm's length. Crypto firms and insiders person struggled to support banking relationships and person argued that the regulators authored that "debanking" strain.
The archetypal question to Gould was connected that situation, with Scott asking whether he'd perpetrate to reversing that erstwhile stance, to which Gould responded, "absolutely."
For the crypto industry, Atkins' responses connected crypto matters are perchance much urgent. But helium wasn't questioned connected his views astir adjacent steps for cryptocurrency oversight, nor astir the legislative efforts poised to remake U.S. crypto policy.
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At 1 point, Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana raised the taxable of erstwhile FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who helium said looks similar a "fourth runner-up successful a John Belushi lookalike contest," and asked Atkins whether the SEC appropriately looked into SBF's parents for their engagement successful his fraudulent activities.
"I look guardant to getting to the SEC to find retired what happened," Atkins said. "Like you, I'm acrophobic astir those reports."
But Kennedy took it further, suggesting a deficiency of accountability that signals "two standards for instrumentality and punishment" successful the U.S.
"I don't deliberation the SEC has done a damn thing," Kennedy said. "They're crooks!" helium shouted. "And I expect the SEC to bash thing astir it."
Few different senators delved into wider crypto matters, and those that whitethorn person been expected to, specified arsenic Senator Cynthia Lummis, weren't present. The proceeding lone lasted 2 hours and included 4 nominees for assorted offices, causing immoderate Democrats to lament that this wasn't capable clip to talk with each person.
Atkins' astir hard moments revolved astir his tenure arsenic an SEC commissioner successful the run-up to the 2008 meltdown and the agency's failings successful policing the owe securities that contributed to that crisis. Atkins deflected the superior work of the situation arsenic belonging to owe giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The adjacent measurement successful the confirmation process is for the committee to ballot connected the nominees and guardant them for imaginable support by the wide Senate.
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