Former Crypto Executive Appointed To Serve As SEC’s Director of Trading and Markets

A former crypto executive has been tapped to serve as the director of trading and markets at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Jamie Selway, a veteran financial services executive, will begin serving in the role on June 17th, per a new press release from the regulator.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins says Selway will help “ensure the agency’s regulations balance costs and benefits.”

The SEC has adopted a more crypto-friendly stance under Atkins, who has sought to distance the regulatory agency from the high-profile enforcement actions overseen by Gary Gensler, the previous chair.

Gensler launched legal battles against numerous crypto firms, including industry giants Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, Ripple, Uniswap Labs and Consensys. Since Gensler stepped down in January, many of those cases have been closed.

Atkins said last month that the SEC’s “legacy rules and regulations” don’t contemplate the novel use cases of blockchain technology.

“In order for the United States to be the ‘crypto capital of the planet’ as envisioned by President Trump, the Commission must keep pace with innovation and consider whether regulatory changes are needed to accommodate on-chain securities and other crypto assets. Rules and regulations designed for off-chain securities may be incompatible with or unnecessary for on-chain assets and stifle the growth of blockchain technology.

A key priority of my Chairmanship will be to develop a rational regulatory framework for crypto asset markets that establishes clear rules of the road for the issuance, custody, and trading of crypto assets while continuing to discourage bad actors from violating the law.”

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