President Trump Taps Two Democrats in Bipartisan Slate of SEC and CFTC Nominees as Both Agencies Run Short-Handed
Bitcoin Magazine
President Trump Taps Two Democrats in Bipartisan Slate of SEC and CFTC Nominees as Both Agencies Run Short-Handed
President Donald Trump sent the Senate four nominees for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Thursday, his first picks for either agency in about a year and the first Democrats he has put forward for them.
Former CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson, a Democrat, and Republican Steven Levine were nominated to the SEC. Republican Nathan Anonick and Democrat Matthew Rowland were nominated to the CFTC, Bloomberg Law reported.
Each nominee needs Senate confirmation. The Senate Banking Committee will handle the SEC picks, while the Senate Agriculture Committee will take up the CFTC pair before any vote by the full chamber.
Who the nominees are
Levine was tapped for the SEC seat left by Hester Peirce, whose term expired, for a term running through June 5, 2030. He most recently served as general counsel and a senior adviser at the White House Council of Economic Advisers and previously worked at the SEC as counsel and deputy chief of staff to Commissioner Mark Uyeda.
Peirce led the SEC’s Crypto Task Force and was one of the agency’s most vocal supporters of clearer crypto rules.
Johnson would take the seat formerly held by Democrat Caroline Crenshaw, for a term ending June 5, 2029. She served as a CFTC commissioner until 2025 and is a former law school professor. During her time at the CFTC, she spoke often about digital assets, including custody and decentralized finance.
Both CFTC nominees come from the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees the derivatives regulator. Anonick is legislative counsel to Chairman John Boozman and was a lead negotiator on the committee’s portion of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. He was nominated to the seat once held by former Chairman Rostin Behnam, for a term ending June 19, 2031.
Rowland is a CFTC attorney detailed to the committee who also worked on the Clarity Act and the committee’s 2024 crypto bill. He previously served on Johnson’s staff at the CFTC, according to his LinkedIn profile. He would fill the remainder of former Commissioner Summer Mersinger’s term, which expires April 13, 2028.
Both agencies can seat up to five commissioners, with no more than three from one party. The SEC currently has two, Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda. Chairman Mike Selig is the CFTC’s only sitting commissioner.
Lame-duck timing and a Democratic Senate
The timing puts the nominees in front of a Senate in its lame-duck session, weeks after Democrats swept both chambers of Congress in the Nov. 3 midterms. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of crypto’s sharpest critics, is expected to chair the Banking Committee when the new Congress is seated in January.
The pairing of Democrats with Republicans could matter for confirmation. After the election, TD Cowen’s Jaret Seiberg told clients he did not expect Democrats to confirm Trump nominees unless the president filled Democratic seats at agencies such as the SEC, a step he called unlikely. Thursday’s slate does exactly that at both regulators.
The nominations also land with crypto market structure legislation stalled. The Clarity Act failed a Senate cloture vote 49-50 on Sept. 15 and dies on Jan. 3 unless the lame-duck session revives it.
Without new law, the SEC and CFTC have set crypto policy largely on their own this year. Selig’s CFTC opened the door to equity perpetual futures, and a federal judge later said the agency likely overstepped while letting trading continue.
The White House did not say when it expects the Senate to act. The open question is whether a Senate heading for Democratic control moves the four nominees before January, or leaves the SEC and CFTC running with skeleton commissions into 2027.
This post President Trump Taps Two Democrats in Bipartisan Slate of SEC and CFTC Nominees as Both Agencies Run Short-Handed first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.