SEC Names Crypto Industry Veteran as Trading and Markets Director

In brief

The SEC has hired Jamie Selway as the new director of its trading and markets division.
Selway previously worked at Blockchain.com and the Coinbase-acquired Skew.
The regulator has taken a more crypto-friendly approach to regulating the space under President Trump.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s new director of the trading and markets division is a crypto-native.

Wall Street’s top regulator on Friday named Jamie Selway as new chief of the SEC department.

Selway previously worked at Blockchain.com and for Skew, a crypto analytics platform owned by Coinbase, according to his LinkedIn page. He also previously worked at Goldman Sachs, where he was an associate, and at Silvertrain AI. His most recent role was at Gradient, a financial services firm that uses AI.

SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins said in a statement that Selway “brings decades of industry experience in market structure and across multiple asset classes to this critical role.”

Selway added that he “will promote the SEC’s mission and enable innovation, to the benefit of our nation’s investors.”

DOWNLOAD HERE

Decrypt could not immediately reach Selway for comment. The SEC did not immediately respond to Decrypt‘s questions.

Alongside Selway’s appointment, the regulator also said on Friday that Brian T. Daly will lead the division of investment management. Daly, formerly a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, has authored papers and given talks about crypto regulation.

The SEC under President Trump has taken a more friendly approach to regulating crypto, saying that it wants to foster innovation and clear up the “mess” left by the previous administration.

President Trump campaigned on a ticket to help the crypto industry, and received financial backing from business leaders in the space.

During the Biden administration, the SEC targeted some of the most recognizable American digital asset brands with lawsuits, and its former Chair Gary Gensler repeatedly said that the vast majority of coins and tokens fell under the definition of a security.

The regulator now has a crypto task force and digital asset-friendly staff working on its team. Nearly all SEC lawsuits and investigations targeting crypto firms have been scrapped since Trump returned to office.

Edited by Andrew Hayward