Donald Trump's likely choices to run the SEC include a Robinhood exec and 'CryptoDad'

Paul Atkins, who served as SEC commissioner under former President George W. Bush and was influential in Trump’s 2016 transition, has been floated by those in Trump’s orbit, CNBC reported. Atkins now leads Patomak Global Partners, a consulting firm he started in 2009 after leaving public service.

At the SEC, Atkins opposed massive fines on companies that violated securities laws and later vowed to dismantle Dodd-Frank, which enhanced federal regulatory authority following the disastrous 2008 financial crisis. Since 2017, Atkins has been co-chair of the Token Alliance, a trade association representing dozens of organizations advocating for the digital asset and blockchain industry.

Heath Tarbert, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) between 2019 and January 2021, is another potential pick for the SEC gig, according to CNBC. Under his leadership, the CFTC set a handful of records, including for most cases in a fiscal year, according to The Financial Times.

In addition to working across the federal government — including in the White House, Department of Justice, and Treasury Department — Tarbert has plenty of experience working in private practices.

Between April 2021 and June 2023, he worked as chief legal officer for Citadel Securities, the hedge fund founded by Ken Griffin. He got that job just 27 days after leaving the CFTC, sparking criticism of the so-called revolving door from public service to private work.

Tarbet is currently the chief legal officer and head of corporate affairs for Circle, a payments technology form that manages the cryptocurrency USDC, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

J. Christopher Giancarlo, the former head of the CFTC under Trump, is basically the crypto world’s French knight in shining armor.

Giancarlo is likely best known as “CryptoDad” owing to the massive support the industry gave him after he won approval for trading bitcoin futures contracts; he later wrote a book fashioned after that nickname, “CryptoDad: The Fight for the Future of Money.” He’s now senior counsel and co-chair of Willkie Farr & Gallagher’s digital works practice, alongside holding a series of other responsibilities elsewhere.

Giancarlo is the founder and director of The Digital Dollar Project, which explores “future-proofing the U.S. dollar,” and is an advisor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He also serves in board and advisory roles for the American Financial Exchange, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, Nomura Holdings (NMR), and the Chamber of Commerce.

Robert Stebbins is another potential contender for the chairperson role, Politico reported earlier this month, citing conversations with industry experts.

Stebbins, who now leads Willkie Farr & Gallagher’s corporate governance practice, worked at the law firm between 1993 and 2017 before joining the SEC as its head legal officer. He helped Jay Clayton, Trump’s SEC chair and Stebbins’ former law school classmate, assemble his team, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2017.

As general counsel of the SEC, Stebbins advised on more than 85 rules and hundreds of staff orders and interpretive releases, according to Willkie. His team also advised on more than 2,750 enforcement actions.

At Willkie, he worked with Morgan Stanley (MS) to advise on Horizon Therapeutics’s (AMGN) $27.8 billion acquisition by Amgen, as well as on a proposed combination of Allergan (ABBV) and Pfizer (PFE). Stebbins was also involved with Fiat’s (STLA) bid to acquire a majority of Chrysler’s shares in the early 2010s.

Hester Peirce is another potential contender to take Gensler’s spot, according to Politico. Peirce — who was initially nominated by former President Barack Obama for an SEC commissioner role — was sworn in as a Republican commissioner in 2018.

As commissioner, Peirce has been a staunch critic of Gensler’s aggressive approach to cryptocurrency regulation, telling CNBC in 2022 that “we’ve sort of dropped the regulatory ball.” She’s repeatedly called for more clear, and friendlier, guidelines for the industry.

“Leaving crypto to be addressed in an endless series of misguided and overreaching cases has been and continues to be a consequential mistake,” Peirce and Commissioner Mark Uyeda wrote in September as part of a dissenting opinion on a case.

The two commissioners disagreed with the SEC’s decision that Flyfish Club should have registered its sale of membership nonfungible tokens (NFTs) as securities transactions. They argued that the NFTs, which provide entry to the club, are just a different way to sell memberships.

Before becoming a commissioner, Peirce conducted research on financial market regulation for George Mason University and advised the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Peirce was also a staff attorney for the SEC’s investment management division and an associate at WilmerHale.

Dan Gallagher, currently the chief legal officer at financial trading firm Robinhood (HOOD), is reportedly a leading contender for the SEC gig, Politico reported.

Gallagher wouldn’t be a stranger to the agency; he served as a Republican commissioner under former President Barack Obama from 2011 through 2015 and held several other positions in the SEC before that appointment. He’s also done stints at Atkins’ Patomak Global Partners, the law firm WilmerHale, and Mylan, a health care company acquired by Pfizer and now called Viatris.

In the late 2000s, as a leader in the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, Gallagher represented the commission as it liquidated Lehman Brothers and addressed other issues during the financial crisis. As commissioner, he was known for his forceful dissents and criticism of the Federal Reserve and the Dodd-Frank Act, and he called for a comprehensive review of trading in the U.S. stock market.

But confirming Gallagher may be difficult, according to Politico, partly because of typical Democratic caution when appointing industry leaders to regulatory positions and partly because of Robinhood’s past issues. In 2021, the company needed to stop traders from buying GameStop shares in the first instance of the meme stock craze.

There’s also the question of whether or not Gallagher would want the job enough to leave Robinhood; Gallagher joined the firm’s board in October 2019 before taking the chief legal officer job in May 2020. The executive told Politico that he loves his job, adding that it’s “an honor to have my name included in any discussion of who may be the next SEC chairman.”