Confirmed: Paul Atkins Will Be Next SEC Chair

Senate Confirms Paul Atkins as SEC Chair

The U.S. Senate confirmed Paul Atkins on Wednesday as the next chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The vote was 52-44.

“We welcome Paul Atkins as the next Chairman of the SEC,” acting Chair Mark T. Uyeda and Commissioners Hester M. Peirce and Caroline A. Crenshaw said in a statement. “A veteran of our Commission, we look forward to him joining with us, along with our dedicated staff, to fulfill our mission on behalf of the investing public.” […]

Atkins is expected to be sworn in soon for a term that expires on June 5, 2026—the date that former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s term would have expired had he not resigned from the agency upon President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

Novel Crypto Rulings to Fill Case Flow Void Left by Trump’s SEC

Courts will hear a wider variety of cryptocurrency claims after changes in Washington have left a gap in traditional cases, attorneys say.

The judiciary will turn to class actions initiated by investors as a primary forum to decide which laws apply to the assets, a pivot away from enforcement actions brought by the government. The Securities and Exchange Commission moved the battle lines this year by dropping almost all of its crypto enforcement cases, previously the major engine for court holdings that digital asset transactions, accounts, and exchanges are subject to the securities laws.

Congress, meanwhile, is expected to sort out which bodies of law and which regulators govern which categories of digital assets. And that will set off a new round of judicial interpretation and application, said Eileen Duffy Robinett of Thompson Coburn LLP.

Trump’s Encouragement of Stock Investors Draws Scrutiny

President Trump began his Wednesday with some advice for those rattled by his steep tariffs.

“BE COOL,” Mr. Trump told his followers on social media after the markets opened. Just a couple of minutes later he wrote, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”

Hours after that, Mr. Trump sent the markets soaring when he paused the levies for 90 days. The S&P 500 climbed several percentage points in a matter of minutes and was on its way to its best day since the recovery of the 2008 financial crisis.

Soon after Mr. Trump’s pause, Democrats and government ethics experts asked the perhaps obvious question: Did Mr. Trump give the green light to his followers to cash in on a forthcoming rise in stock prices?

“How is this not market manipulation?” Representative Mike Levin, Democrat of California, said on social media, referring to action that is potentially illegal….

US Justice Dept bars its attorneys from participating in American Bar Association events

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday barred its attorneys from traveling to or speaking at American Bar Association events, in the latest salvo by President Donald Trump’s administration against the nation’s largest voluntary lawyer group.

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a memo seen by Reuters said the ABA had been engaging in “activist causes” contrary to the department’s mission, including by suing to block Trump from cutting funding to foreign aid organizations.