During a Thursday confirmation hearing held by the Senate Banking Committee, Paul Atkins, a former SEC commissioner who has been nominated to spearhead the agency, was expectedly grilled by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Warren, who is known for her vehemently anti-crypto stance, recalled that Atkins voted for loosening the reins on big investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns in the lead-up to the global financial crisis (GFC) when he was an SEC commissioner. "He got pretty much everything wrong in the run-up to the biggest financial crash since the Great Depression," Warren added.
Alex DovbnyaSenator Warren also called attention to Atkins’ financial conflicts of interest, describing them as "breathtaking." Earlier this week, Fortune reported that Atkins owns close to $6 million worth of crypto-linked assets. He is also a board member of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization firm Securitize, which is currently spearheaded by former Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein. That said, crypto-related holdings represent only a fraction of his multi-hundred-million net worth.
In the meantime, some Republican members of the committee, such as Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, harshly criticized former SEC Chair Gary Gensler.
It is worth noting that Atkins is a surefire lock for confirmation. Former SEC official John Reed Stark has described him as an "amazing choice" to lead the powerful regulatory agency.
Tomiwabold OlajideAtkins has stated that providing "a firm regulatory foundation" for crypto will be "a top priority" of his chairmanship.
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin
