Breaking: SEC Now Has New Acting Chairman

Republican SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda has been  selected as the agency's new acting chairman. 

This comes after Chair Gary Gensler, who spearheaded the agency back in 2021, ended his term earlier today. 

"Congratulations to our new Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda," Hester Peirce, another Republican commissioner,  said on social media. 

As reported by U.Today, Paul Atkins, CEO of Patomak Global Partners, was appointed to replace Gensler last year. However, Atkins is yet to be confirmed by the Senate. 

Notably, Uyeda was briefly seen as the frontrunner for the top job in early November. 

The commissioner has been a vocal critic of the SEC's "regulation through enforcement" approach that was adopted by the Gensler administration. During one of his interviews, he described it as a "disaster" for the crypto industry. 

In December, Uyeda predicted eased cryptocurrency enforcement and greater clarity. 

Recently, Reuters reported that the Republican majority was considering freezing or even dropping some non-fraud cryptocurrency cases.    

Meanwhile, CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham has been picked to serve as the agency's acting chair, according to a  recent report by Bloomberg. 

Pham has been a proponent of creating clear regulatory policies for the cryptocurrency industry, suggesting "regulatory sandboxes" for fledgling crypto companies. 

It remains to be seen who will become the agency's permanent chair. Pham is one of the top candidates for that job.  

As reported by U.Today , Brian Quintenz, the head of crypto policy at venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, has also emerged among the frontrunners to spearhead the agency.