SEC Chair Nominee Paul Atkins Senate Hearing to Happen on 27 March

Paul Atkins, President Donald Trump’s nominee for SEC Chair, is set for a Senate confirmation hearing on 27 March, positioning him to assume the role as early as next month.

If confirmed, he will succeed Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda, who has led the agency since January.

Atkins, a former SEC commissioner (2002–2008) and a staunch advocate for digital assets, founded Patomak Global Partners, a Washington-based financial consulting firm.

His return comes as the SEC undergoes significant shifts, particularly in crypto regulation.

He is expected to scale back enforcement actions and ease pathways for private firms to go public, continuing the agency’s pro-crypto trajectory under Trump.

At the same hearing, the Senate Banking Committee will also consider Jonathan Gould’s nomination to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a critical regulator for US national banks.

The OCC’s role is particularly relevant to crypto firms, which have long fought for improved banking access.

Senate Hearing to Examine Atkins and Crypto-Focused Candidates

The OCC is poised to play a crucial role in expanding digital asset access to US banking and could become a key regulator for future stablecoin issuers under proposed legislation.

However, the upcoming Senate confirmation hearing is not solely about Atkins.

The panel will also review Gould, a partner at Jones Day and former chief counsel and senior deputy comptroller at the OCC, who has been nominated to lead the agency.

Additionally, lawmakers will consider Luke Pettit for the role of assistant secretary for financial institutions at the US Treasury Department.

Atkins has been nominated to replace former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, whose regulatory approach—criticised as “regulation by enforcement”—sparked tensions with the crypto industry.

Since taking over on an interim basis, Acting Chair Mark Uyeda has reversed course, withdrawing SEC lawsuits against crypto firms and closing several investigations.

With Atkins expected to continue this shift, his confirmation is drawing particular attention, especially regarding the SEC’s evolving stance on digital assets.

SEC Has Been Dropping Lawsuits Like Flies

Since January, the SEC has dismissed over 10 crypto enforcement cases, including those against Kraken, Gemini, Robinhood, and TRON—none of which resulted in penalties.

The agency has also scaled back litigation on climate-reporting rules and made it easier for companies to reject shareholder proposals.

A major development came this week when the SEC abandoned its appeal in the long-running Ripple lawsuit, which had stretched over four years.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse did not hold back in his response, marking this as yet another regulatory rollback in 2025.

During the Digital Assets Summit in New York, he said:

“It’s been almost four years and about three months since the SEC originally sued us, certainly a painful journey in lots of ways. I really deeply believed that we were going to be on the right side of the law and on the right side of history.”

He informed the crowd:

“The system just feels broken. That we had to fight this fight for the industry and you had an SEC attacking the industry, particularly the Ripple case. There were no victims, there was no investor loss. They were just not acting in good faith.”

As the SEC continues to shift its approach, the broader implications for crypto and financial markets remain in focus.

Atkins Will Have a Lot of Things on His Plate When He Takes Over

If confirmed by the Senate, Atkins is expected to continue reshaping the SEC’s approach—scaling back enforcement, streamlining IPO approvals, and establishing clear regulatory guidelines for crypto instead of relying on litigation.

His track record suggests a shift toward a rules-based framework rather than the previous era of enforcement-driven oversight.

With experience in financial consulting, a past tenure at the SEC, and early involvement in Bitcoin investing since 2011, Atkins is seen as both an insider and a reformer.

However, his mandate is not just to manage the agency—it is to transform it, and quickly.

The Senate hearing on 27 March will determine whether that vision moves forward.