White House Nominates Two Republicans and Two Democrats to Vacant SEC and CFTC Seats

Since Hester Peirce left the SEC in October and the Senate stalled the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the two main crypto regulators have been running short-handed. On Thursday, Nov. 12, the White House sent the Senate four nominees to start filling the empty chairs.

The SEC currently has two of its five seats filled: Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda. The CFTC has one commissioner, Chairman Michael Selig, running the agency alone.

The four nominees

The slate is split evenly by party. Each agency gets one Republican and one Democrat.

SEC:

• Kristin N. Johnson, a Michigan Democrat and former CFTC commissioner, is nominated to the seat previously held by Caroline Crenshaw. The term runs to June 5, 2029.
• Steven Levine, a Maryland Republican, is nominated to Peirce's former seat, with a term through June 5, 2030.

CFTC:

• Nathan Anonick, a Virginia Republican, would take the seat previously held by Rostin Behnam. The term runs to June 19, 2031.
• Matthew Rowland, a Democrat from Washington, DC, would take the seat previously held by Summer Mersinger. He would serve only the remainder of a term ending April 13, 2028.

Rowland's slot is the only one explicitly for an unfinished term. The other three nominees would serve terms that run well past the next Congress.

Who they are

Levine most recently served as general counsel and senior advisor at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Before that he worked at the SEC as counsel and deputy chief of staff to Commissioner Uyeda. His public views on crypto regulation have not been clearly laid out.

Johnson served as a CFTC commissioner until 2025. She has spoken on crypto custody, decentralized finance and AI regulation. At the CFTC she argued for stronger customer protections and conflict-of-interest rules at crypto firms. Foresight News reports she has publicly backed CFTC enforcement actions against three DeFi operators.

Anonick works on the staff of Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, where he handled crypto, futures and derivatives issues. The Block has reported he was a principal negotiator on the committee's Clarity Act provisions.

Rowland is a CFTC attorney on detail to the Senate Agriculture Committee. He previously worked on Johnson's staff and took part in congressional crypto talks.

The Clarity Act would give the CFTC authority over digital commodity spot intermediaries and set rules on platform registration, client fund segregation and conflicts of interest. It failed a Senate procedural vote and has not advanced.

Reaction

Selig welcomed the two CFTC picks. He called them "two strong bipartisan picks" and "excellent individuals chosen on a bipartisan basis," and said he looks forward to working with them once confirmed.

Ji Kim, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, congratulated all four on X. "Both the CFTC and SEC will continue to play central and consequential roles in our financial markets," Kim said, adding that strong bipartisan representation is essential to durable rules.

The calendar problem

Democrats won control of the House and Senate in the Nov. 3 midterms. The new Congress convenes Jan. 3, 2027. Republicans keep their Senate majority until then, so any confirmations that happen before the handover happen on the current majority's schedule.

Crypto Briefing reports the Senate Banking Committee has scheduled a hearing for the SEC nominees on Nov. 19, one week after the nominations were transmitted. That outlet also reports confirmation is anticipated before the Democratic takeover. The CFTC nominees go to the Senate Agriculture Committee. No hearing date for Anonick and Rowland has been reported.

A full-strength commission is not on offer. The SEC and CFTC each have five seats, and no more than three can come from one party. If all four nominees are confirmed, the SEC reaches four members and the CFTC three. Foresight News argues the practical change would be more commissioners taking part in votes and rulemaking, not a new policy agenda.

The announcement itself contained no new rule or commitment on stablecoins, custody or exchange compliance.

What comes next

The first test is the Nov. 19 Banking Committee session for Johnson and Levine. Senators are expected to press them on whether tokens should be treated as securities and how custody rules should work. It is unclear whether the Agriculture Committee can move Anonick and Rowland in the few legislative weeks left before Jan. 3.