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With Paul Atkins as the incoming SEC Chair, David Sacks as the AI & Crypto Czar, and potential CFTC leadership changes, the Trump administration is signaling a major shift for crypto, AI, and financial regulation.
Guests Mike Selig and Jake Chervinsky break down what this means for token launches, enforcement actions, inter-agency collaboration, and the fate of Operation Chokepoint 2.0. Could this mark the end of the U.S.’s regulatory hostility toward innovation?
Show highlights:
- What changes to expect under an Atkins-led SEC
- Who could lead the SEC in the period between Gensler resigning and Atkins assuming
- Whether the Democrats will nominate SEC Commissioner Crenshaw again
- Elizabeth Warren’s influence on the non-Republican SEC commissioner picks
- Whether Atkins’ leadership at the SEC might shift crypto regulation away from aggressive enforcement
- Whether Gensler’s recent promotion of people in enforcement roles will further his SEC’s regulation-by-enforcement strategy
- Whether the SEC and Coinbase will reach a settlement
- Why Mike and Jake think it’s not likely that the SEC will pursue litigation in the Ripple case
- How the SEC might clarify securities laws around token sales, airdrops, and exemptions
- Whether Atkins’ leadership could fast-track Hester Peirce’s Safe Harbor
- How the CFTC’s potential lead on crypto regulation might redefine how it splits duties with the SEC
- Whether it even makes sense to have two financial regulatory agencies
- Who might lead the CFTC
- Why Jake and Mike believe combining AI and crypto under one ‘czar’ makes sense
- How the appointment of Scott Bessent for Treasury secretary will affect the crypto industry
- How the likely end to Operation Chokepoint 2.0 will create a “sea change”
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPTGuests:
- Mike Selig, Partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher
- Previous appearance on Unchained: Is Gary Gensler on a Mission to Put Crypto Down for Good?
- Jake Chervinsky, Chief Legal Officer at Variant
- Previous appearances on Unchained:
- The US vs. Crypto: Jake Chervinsky on Crypto’s Legal and Regulatory Status
- Why the SEC vs. Ripple Order Is Now About 2 Things: Coinbase and Congress
- The Chopping Block: Jake Chervinsky on How the SEC Has Lost Credibility
- All Things Crypto Regulation With Jake Chervinsky
- Everything You Need to Know About the Looming Battle Over Privacy in Crypto
- Can Crypto Be a Force in the Midterms? Yes, Say Kristin Smith and Jake Chervinsky
- Previous appearances on Unchained:
Links
- Trump’s Office Picks:
- Unchained:
- Why Trump’s SEC Chair Pick, Paul Atkins, Is So Positive for Crypto
- David Sacks as A.I. & Crypto Czar? Why the Industry Was Surprised
- Trump Taps Paul Atkins for Next SEC Chair, Making Good on His Crypto Promises
- Democratic SEC Commissioner Is Stepping Down, but That Doesn’t Mean Trump Will Get 2 Outright Picks
- Trump Taps Hedge Fund Manager Scott Bessent to Be Treasury Secretary
- A Degen Administration? Why the Crypto Czar May Be Allowed to Own Tokens
- Tracking Trump’s Cabinet and Staff Nominations
- Unchained:
- Congressional Results
- John Reed Stark’s tweet:“current SEC Chair Gary Gensler is quietly working behind the scenes to lead the SEC from the grave”
Operation Chokepoint 2.0
- Forbes: How ‘Debanking’ Tech And Crypto Companies Could Kill Businesses
- Marc Andreessen and the CFPB: Debunking the Debanking Debunkers by Nic Carter
- Unchained: Regulators Are Limiting Banks Serving Crypto Clients. Does That Violate the Law?
- Unchained: Killed By Politics, Ex-Diem Boss Says of Meta’s Stablecoin