PANews reported on December 4 that according to Unchained Crypto, US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Paul Atkins, who supports the crypto industry, as chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It is reported that Atkins is the first libertarian to serve as a commissioner of the SEC during the Bush administration and has long supported the crypto industry. Sources said that Trump has contacted Atkins, but he has yet to formally accept the nomination.

Atkins, as a replacement, needs to be confirmed by the Senate, otherwise Trump may directly appoint him during the Senate recess. Atkins co-founded Token Alliance in 2017, focusing on cryptocurrency policy and providing compliance consulting for digital financial companies for a long time. People familiar with Atkins' thinking said that this position is not attractive to him because of the amount of work required to turn around the bloated agency and because it would require him to resign from his current business position.