Pro-Crypto Mark Uyeda Named Acting SEC Chair With Gensler Gone

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Mark Uyeda will temporarily lead the cryptocurrency industry’s main regulator as acting chair, amid a broader shakeup across several federal government agencies.

The appointment comes immediately after SEC Chairman Gary Gensler stepped down as Wall Street’s top cop Monday, as expected, alongside President Donald Trump’s inauguration. The former leader of the Commission said last November that he’d resign on January 20 due to changing political tides, signaled by the re-election of pro-crypto President Donald Trump.

Trump has nominated former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins to run the SEC on a long-term basis. It is unclear when Atkins’ appointment will be approved.

The SEC did not immediately return Decrypt‘s request for comment.

Uyeda, a Republican, is an outspoken champion of the crypto industry. In a Fox Business interview last October, Uyeda called the SEC’s treatment of the digital asset industry a “disaster.”

“We have been sending this ‘policy through enforcement,’ we’ve done nothing to provide guidance on it, and as a result, this has been achieved by the courts, and different courts have ruled different ways,” Uyeda said in the interview.

Edited by Andrew Hayward