SEC Appoints New Crypto-Savvy Leaders Amid Regulatory Shift

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has appointed four senior officials including two with backgrounds in digital assets under Chairman Paul Atkins. 

Brian T. Daly will become Director of the Division of Investment Management starting July 8. Kurt Hohl will take over as Chief Accountant on July 7. Jamie Selway, a former executive at Blockchain, will lead the Division of Trading and Markets from June 17. Erik Hotmire has also been named Chief External Affairs Officer.

According to the press release , Brian T. Daly has decades of experience in advising hedge funds and investment firms and has reportedly worked with top law firms like Akin Gump and Schulte Roth & Zabel.  He also served as an in-house compliance officer at Millennium Partners and Raptor Capital.

“Brian has deep familiarity with all levels of the investment management industry,” Chairman Atkins said in the press release. “I am looking forward to working with Brian on common-sense regulation that does not impose unnecessary burdens.”

Daly also expressed his optimism about the new direction of the SEC, saying, “I am optimistic about this new day at the SEC and eager to get to work with Chairman Atkins… to ensure regulatory compliance by investment advisers and fund managers while tailoring rulemaking within our statutory authority.”

Hohl is returning to the SEC after decades as a public accountant. He’s known for authoring the original Financial Reporting Manual during his first tenure at the Commission in the 1990s. He previously served as a partner at Ernst & Young, bringing nearly 40 years of auditing experience. Now, he’s coming back to the SEC to help make sure that the financial statements are clearer and transparency is made sure of.

Selway has a strong background in both finance and digital assets. He was recently a partner at Sophron Advisors and has worked with several startups in the fintech space. He also briefly served as the global head of institutional markets at Blockchain in 2018–2019. In his statement, Selway said, “Chairman Atkins is bringing about a new day at the SEC,” Selway said. He added, “Together, we will promote the SEC’s mission and enable innovation.”

This appointment shows that the SEC is changing its tone of engagement in the digital space since Chairman Atkins took over on April 22. Under his leadership, the SEC has already dropped or paused several major lawsuits targeting crypto companies.

Earlier this year, the SEC closed investigations into Uniswap Labs and Ethereum-based project CyberKongz without taking any enforcement action. The agency also withdrew cases against Coinbase, Cumberland DRW, and Richard Heart, the founder of Hex, PulseChain, and PulseX.

In March, the SEC hosted its first crypto-focused task force roundtable. This gave hope that the agency is really interested in open dialogue with the industry.