Senate Banking Committee delays vote on SEC chair nominee

The Senate Banking Committee has reportedly delayed its vote on the nomination of Paul Atkins as the next chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Journalist and host of Crypto in America podcast Eleanor Terrett, shared this development via X. The former FOX Business reporter cited a Senate aide as the source of the news.

According to the aide, the committee will “not vote today on Atkins or the other nominees, as is typical practice.”

Instead, nominees will be required to submit written responses to committee questions ahead of a markup vote. A date for that vote has not yet been set.

Atkins’ nomination and the SEC’s shifting stance

Atkins, President Donald Trump’s pick to replace former SEC chair Gary Gensler, faced the Senate’s banking committee on March 27.

Lawmakers also held a confirmation hearing for Jonathan Gould, nominated to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Gensler’s time at the helm of the top securities watchdog in the US is mostly seen as negative and anti-crypto.

His regulation by enforcement action approach that saw SEC sue multiple crypto companies and launched investigations against several is one of the things the commission is looking to drop completely. Indeed, several cryptocurrencies rallied in the wake of the ex-SEC chair’s resignation.

Despite Gensler’s exit, regulation remains a top topic in crypto. Recent moves to withdraw lawsuits and end investigations suggests this is the case.

Facing questions from the banking committee, Atkins says the SEC under his leadership will be keen on regulatory clarity.

“A top priority of my chairmanship will be to work with my fellow commissioners and Congress to provide a firm regulatory foundation for digital assets through a rational, coherent, and principled approach,” he noted in a prepared testimony.

While the report is that the Senate is delaying a vote on his nomination, the anticipation around the crypto ecosystem is that his confirmation is just a matter of ‘when, not if’.

Until then, interim chair Mark Uyeda continues to point the SEC in what industry players say is the right direction