Trump taps Republican Uyeda as acting SEC chair, White House says

By Chris Prentice

(Reuters) -Newly sworn-in President Donald Trump has tapped Mark Uyeda, a Republican member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to be acting chair of the agency, the White House said on Monday.

Uyeda takes over from Gary Gensler, former President Joe Biden’s hard-charging SEC chair whose ambitious agenda led him to clash with Wall Street and the crypto industry.

Trump has said he will nominate former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins to run the agency on a permanent basis. Atkins, for whom both Uyeda and current SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce both previously worked at the agency, is expected to make a sharp turn away from how the Biden administration oversaw capital markets.

Gensler, who stepped down on Monday, inked dozens of rules aimed at boosting transparency, reducing risks, and stamping out conflicts of interest on Wall Street. He also sued multiple crypto firms he alleged were flouting SEC rules. 

Sources said this month that Peirce and Uyeda are expected to kick-start a cryptocurrency policy overhaul as early as this week, Reuters reported. 

Uyeda’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Republican SEC commissioner since June 2022, Uyeda has criticized Gensler’s approach to rulemaking and enforcement. 

“The pending administration change will give the SEC a chance to reset its regulatory agenda to focus on capital formation and innovation, while protecting investors, like seniors, from scam artists defrauding them,” Uyeda told Reuters in November.

Uyeda’s appointment is likely to be applauded by crypto companies, as he has criticized the SEC for failing to offer guidance on how crypto companies can register with the agency. He called the agency’s approach a “disaster for the whole industry” in an October interview with Fox Business.

During his time at the SEC, Uyeda has called for the agency to ease what he said were regulatory burdens that prevented companies from going public and advocated for clear rules on digital assets.

He regularly also voted against approving, and at times publicly dissented on, SEC enforcement actions, including a settlement with the blank-check company that helped take Trump’s media company public.

Before joining the SEC, Uyeda worked for former U.S. Senator Pat Toomey on the Senate Banking Committee and was previously tapped by former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as a top advisor to the state’s securities regulator.

Uyeda attended Georgetown University and Duke University’s law school.