In the United States, President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday, December 4, that he planned to appoint, once invested, Republican lawyer Paul Atkins, favorable to the development of cryptocurrencies, to head the American Securities Regulatory Authority. financial markets, the SEC.
Former commissioner of the same authority, from 2002 to 2008, under the government of George W. Bush, Paul Atkins will succeed Democrat Gary Gensler, who announced his resignation at the end of November, after the election of Donald Trump.
Paul Atkins is currently the managing director of a risk management consulting firm, Patomak Global Partners, but also an advisor to the Digital Chamber, an organization promoting the technology on which cryptocurrencies are based, the “blockchain”.
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Although he has already been publicly critical of the use of cryptocurrencies for speculative purposes, he is no less in favor of the development of this sector for transactional purposes. This position contrasts with that of the outgoing president, Gary Gensler, whose mandate was marked by a wave of repression against numerous players in digital currencies, accused of operating illegally.
Trump: “Digital assets are crucial for America”
Last year, Paul Atkins publicly criticized SEC officials. In particular, he believed that they should have shown themselves « plus accommodants » with companies in the cryptocurrency sector and he accused them, through their approach, of diverting entrepreneurs from the American market.
“Paul has demonstrated his orientation in favor of regulation tinged with common sense”indicated Donald Trump in a message posted on his Truth Social platform. “He believes in strong and innovative financial markets that meet the needs of investorshe added. It also recognizes that digital assets are crucial to making America greater than it has ever been. »
On Wednesday, among other appointments, detailed on his Truth Social page, Donald Trump also named Jared Isaacman, a billionaire and private astronaut, boss of NASA. Billy Long, former representative of Missouri in Congress, was appointed to the post of commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the American tax administration.
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Donald Trump also announced that he would nominate Gail Slater to head the Justice Department's antitrust division, a choice that suggests his administration will closely monitor big tech companies.
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On this subject, the president-elect assured that “Big tech has done whatever it wanted for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector”. The Department of Justice and the US Antitrust Authority (FTC) currently have five pending legal cases against companies in this sector, including Amazon, Apple and Meta. The antitrust department of the Department of Justice recently won a legal victory against Google and now wants to force the Internet giant to part with its Chrome browser.
