There will soon be a new Wall Street sheriff in Washington – after all the gunsmoke clears out on Capitol Hill, that is.
Paul Atkins, a long-time securities lawyer, is expected to pass his confirmation hearing next week as Donald Trump’s chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Nevertheless, my sources with ties to both parties say he faces a potentially noisy proceeding over his pro-crypto stance, and how he will carry out Trump’s plans to deregulate a sector that took intense heat during the Biden years.
The problem with crypto is that while its defenders are very active on social media and big in throwing money at Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign, it’s an industry that punches above its weight. As we all know, there’s lots of speculation in the digital coins like Bitcoin, and Ethereum, not to mention all those so-called meme coins (Trump and the First Lady have one).
It’s a nearly $3 trillion business with a supposed utility that remains unproven. The coins are attached to a technology known as “the blockchain,” which is designed to transact business in a cheaper, seamless manner. But when was the last time you bought a cup of coffee using the blockchain or a piece of crypto?
There’s also money laundering. Crypto is one of the favorite modes of transaction for the global criminal underworld no matter how many bros hold the stuff here in the US, and Trump wants to put fewer regulatory eyeballs on it.
So, there’s a bunch of disconnects Atkins will have to explain, I am told, particularly to Dem senators on the banking committee like the progressive firebrand from Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren.
Trump’s conversion to crypto bro might also come up. Recall: After throwing shade on the digital-coin business, Trump vowed to make the US the crypto capital of the world. He saw an opening amid the Biden era crackdown for votes (some 50 million holders) and campaign money.
I can’t tell you how many bros rushed to the polls to vote for Trump, but the industry came through, with crypto heavyweights throwing millions of dollars his way in terms of campaign cash.
It’s been payback time now for the industry. Atkins, who was also a SEC commissioner during the Bush 2 presidency, is a free-market type and pro crypto. SEC crypto enforcement cases, even before Atkins confirmation, have been dropping left and right since Trump took office.
Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of cross-border crypto payments company Ripple, posted on X that the SEC has decided to drop a significant portion of its long-running litigation against his company over the status of the XRP token, which was created by the platform’s founders.
Records show that Garlinghouse is a long-time contributor to both Democrats and Republicans on the national level but he also donated $5 million of XRP to the Trump inaugural months ago, which if held would be worth a lot more today after the price of XRP surged on news of the commission dropping the case.
As I said there are strong indications that Atkins will get through the hearings easily, which are usually snoozers when it comes to the SEC. But the crypto potholes he could face might be worth a listen.
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