Trump’s SEC pick grilled on past agency actions, conflicts of interest 

Top Committee Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her opening statement accused Atkins of “helping billionaire CEOs like Sam Bankman-Fried”

article-image

Sen. Elizabeth Warren | Andrew Cline/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Paul Atkins, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the US Securities and Exchange Commission, on Thursday faced questions from lawmakers on his past regulatory stances and business dealings. 

Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee were especially interested in hearing about how Atkins, who served as a commissioner at the SEC under former President Bush, felt securities regulators handled market risks before the 2008 financial crisis. 

Atkins has historically maintained that the 2008 crash had “many causes,” but “deregulation,” as top Committee Democrat Elizabeth Warren suggested, was not one. 

Read more: What SEC chair nominee Paul Atkins has previously said about crypto

“What really troubles me is that Congress still has yet to address the real root cause, and that was the subprime mortgage crisis,” Atkins added. 

Some senators mentioned digital assets, and Atkins himself even took a moment to acknowledge the industry in his prepared remarks at the start of the hearing. He did not however face any specific inquiries about his plans for regulating the asset class. 

Atkins hopes to provide “clear rules of the road” for crypto companies, he said. Committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott said he hopes Atkins and Comptroller of the Currency nominee Jonathan Gould work to address unfair discrimination against cryptocurrency firms, particularly when it comes to banking. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren in her opening statement accused Atkins of “helping billionaire CEOs like Sam Bankman-Fried.” She added that his personal business dealings present conflicts of interest she feels he has not adequately addressed. 

Atkins, who founded consulting firm Patomak Global Partners after his first stint at the SEC, has a net worth of at least $327 million, according to filings with the Office of Government Ethics. Atkins has said he will sell his stake in the company should he be confirmed, but he did not confirm if he would publicly reveal the details of such a deal. 

“No, you’re not going to tell us how much money you get — to people who will have business in front of the SEC?” Warren wondered in relation to these potential buyers. “You know, some people might call that a pre-bribe.”


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Featured.png

Research

Helium stands at a pivotal moment in its evolution as a decentralized wireless network, balancing rapid growth, economic restructuring, and global expansion. With accelerated growth in domestic DAUs and Hotspots supporting its network, Helium is leveraging strategic partnerships and innovative proposals to scale internationally. The recent implementation of HIP 138, “Return to HNT,” has unified its token economy under HNT, simplifying participation and strengthening liquidity, while HIP 139’s phase-out of CBRS refocuses efforts on scalable Wi-Fi offload. Meanwhile, governance shifts under HIP 141 raise questions about centralization as Nova Labs consolidates control over the roadmap.

article-image

In 2011, WikiLeaks faced a financial blockade imposed by the US government. It was Bitcoin’s first major test.

article-image

Kado’s founder Emery Andrew spoke to Blockworks about the acquisition and what’s next for the team

article-image

LayerZero’s Bryan Pellegrino chatted with Blockworks about the firm’s next steps and its 10-year runway

article-image

Colosseum co-founder Matty Taylor is seeing “high-performance [Solana] founders showing a lot of interest in private trading technology”

article-image

Executives weigh the growth potential they see in the public stock and private credit/equities arenas

article-image

Players can stake ME, trade tokens and link wallets to climb the leaderboard