SEC’s New Boss: Savior of Bitcoin or Just Another Chess Piece? 🕵️‍♂️💰

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Michael Saylor, that relentless Bitcoin hoarder who used to go by the less catchy name MicroStrategy, might just have tossed a confetti cannon in the air. Why? Because Paul Atkins is now steering the ship at the US Securities and Exchange Commission — or SEC if you want to sound professional at parties.

On April 23rd, the crypto cheerleader himself tweeted, “SEC Chairman Paul Atkins will be good for Bitcoin.” Words to live by, or maybe just words to tweet. This was soon after Atkins took the reins as the agency’s 34th chairman (because evidently, the SEC likes prime numbers).

Paul Atkins looking serious about crypto

Meanwhile, Blue Macellari – yes, that’s a real name – the head honcho of digital things at T. Rowe Price, chipped in with a thumbs-up during a Bloomberg chat. She’s hopeful, mostly because the SEC has been hosting something like six or seven roundtables with crypto folks. That’s basically a politician’s version of “Let’s talk it out.”

“I think that that’s gonna feed into the ability to make thoughtful and considerate policies.”

Vincent Liu of Kronos Research had his own pearls of wisdom for CryptoMoon: under Atkins, custody rules for digital assets might finally get sorted—a spell that could shield investors like a digital moat around a castle. Oh, and whether some digital assets are securities or commodities might become less of a cryptic riddle:

“Together, these two moves will help establish clear custody standards and bring much-needed clarity paving the way for the next wave of crypto product innovation.”

The Man, The Myth, The SEC Chair

After President Trump gave Atkins the golden ticket to the SEC in late 2024, the crypto world threw the new guy a (somewhat cautious) welcome party. Katherine Dowling of Bitwise Asset Management called him a “great choice.” Even Ripple Labs’ Brad Garlinghouse declared Atkins the Messiah who will return “common sense” to the agency. Sounds hopeful, but one can’t help picturing a knight in gleaming armor with a calculator.

Of course, not everyone RSVP’d. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who apparently never met a financial crisis she didn’t want to shout about, slammed Atkins for what she called “staggeringly bad judgment” back in the days leading up to the 2008 Wall Street meltdown. His tenure at the SEC from 2002 to 2008 was apparently less “golden years,” more “oops, catastrophe.”

And then there’s the whole consultancy-for-hire thing. Warren highlighted that Atkins’ firm, Patomak Global Partners, advised FTX before its dramatic 2022 implosion. She quipped that Atkins was raking in over $1,200 an hour teaching clients “how to influence regulators” — basically, a masterclass in dodging the very folks he now answers to.

“Your clients pay you north of $1,200 an hour for advice on how to influence regulators like the SEC, and if you’re confirmed, you will be in a prime spot to deliver for all those clients who’ve been paying you millions of dollars for years.”

Liu chimed back with the sensible suggestion that to prevent things from turning into an episode of “Crypto Conflicts of Interest,” Atkins needs some shiny new guardrails. Think mandatory disclosures, ethics watchdogs, and those fun public comment periods where everyone pretends to listen.

Bias, Billionaires, and Bitterness

Warren wasn’t finished. She emailed Atkins in March with a polite note (read: grilling) about whether he could set aside his cozy crypto connections from Patomak. To make things spicier, Atkins revealed a family portfolio worth over $327 million. Because yes, if you’re going to have a side hustle influencing crypto regulation, better be heavy enough in the wallet to match the responsibility.

Meanwhile, David Sacks, Trump’s AI and crypto czar, reminded everyone he was in the game too—having offloaded more than $200 million in crypto stocks before starting his job. The SEC and the crypto world: a nice cocktail of Wall Street and Silicon Valley drama, shaken, not stirred.

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2025-04-23 15:40