Bitcoin surpassed $100,000 for the first time Thursday as markets reacted to President-elect and crypto entrepreneur Donald Trump announcing he will nominate an industry insider to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Trump said Thursday that Paul Atkins, an advisory board member of the crypto lobby group The Digital Chamber and co-chair of its regulatory-focused Token Alliance, will run the federal agency charged with reining in malfeasance on Wall Street and in the Wild West of digital assets. Atkins, a lawyer, was an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008 and has become an advocate for light touch regulations on the crypto industry. His Patomak Global Partners counts several crypto firms as clients. Trump and three of his children—“Web3 Ambassadors” Don Jr. and Eric and “DeFi Visionary” Barron—have their own crypto project, World Liberty Financial, which counts a controversial Chinese national and crypto bro accused by the SEC of fraud as its biggest backer. Trump wrote Atkins “recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before.“ Current SEC Chair Gary Gensler said he will step down when the new administration takes over after Trump pledged to fire him on his first day in office.
