Republican Commissioner Mark Uyeda has been named the acting chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, President Donald Trump announced Sunday.
Former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler departed Monday. Trump said in early December that he plans to nominate Paul Atkins as the next SEC chairman. Atkins, CEO of Patomak Global Partners LLC in Washington, is a former SEC commissioner. Uyeda will serve as acting chairman until the Senate confirms Atkins.
“I am honored to serve in this capacity after serving as a Commissioner since 2022, and a member of the staff since 2006,” Uyeda said Monday in a statement. “I have great respect for the knowledge, expertise, and experience of the agency and its people. The SEC has a vital mission — protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation — that plays a key role in promoting innovation, jobs creation, and the American Dream.”
Uyeda launched on Monday a crypto task force "dedicated to developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets." Commissioner Hester Peirce will lead the task force.
The Task Force "will collaborate with Commission staff and the public to set the SEC on a sensible regulatory path that respects the bounds of the law," according to the SEC statement.
"To date, the SEC has relied primarily on enforcement actions to regulate crypto retroactively and reactively, often adopting novel and untested legal interpretations along the way," the statement continued. "Clarity regarding who must register, and practical solutions for those seeking to register, have been elusive. The result has been confusion about what is legal, which creates an environment hostile to innovation and conducive to fraud. The SEC can do better."
“I look forward to the efforts of Commissioner Peirce to lead regulatory policy on crypto, which involves multiple SEC divisions and offices,” Uyeda said. “This undertaking will take time, patience, and much hard work."
Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga, a Democrat, departed the agency on Jan. 17. Uyeda will serve with Peirce, a Republican, and Caroline Crenshaw, a Democrat.
Eric Pan, president and CEO of the Investment Company Institute, said Monday that he looks forward to working with Uyeda "to continue the SEC's mission of increasing capital formation, maintaining orderly markets, and protecting investors" — with "several excellent ideas that are ripe for swift action, such as ETF share classes with more than 50 pending petitions."
Uyeda "is a champion for everyday investors, and we know that the SEC is in great hands during this transition," Pan said.
Gail Bernstein, general counsel and head of public policy at the Investment Adviser Association, added in a statement Monday that the group looks forward "to continuing to collaborate with him [Uyeda] on priorities important to investment advisers and their clients, including reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens for small advisers."
Credit: Diego Radzinschi/ALM
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