U.S. President names CFTC, SEC nominees for first time in a year

Policy U.S. President names CFTC, SEC nominees for first time in a year U.S. President Donald Trump has named two potential commissioners each to the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. By Nikhilesh De Nov 12, 2026, 5:47 p.m. EST 2 min read Make preferred on Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Make preferred on Enlarge image U.S. President Donald Trump named four individuals to potential posts at the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the first time he has done so since 2025. Trump is recommending former CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson and attorney Steven Levine to the SEC, and Nathan Anonick and Matthew Rowland to the CFTC, filling out empty seats at both agencies, according to the White House’s website . Each of these nominations will need a favorable vote by the Senate. The SEC and CFTC both play key roles in overseeing various parts of the crypto markets (not to mention the overall U.S. financial markets), but have had a limited slate of commissioners since Trump retook the White House in January 2025. The SEC is currently helmed by Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda. Former Commissioner Hester Peirce’s term expired and she left the agency a few weeks ago. The CFTC currently just has Chairman Mike Selig as the sole commissioner. Both agencies can have up to five commissioners overall, and were typically staffed by bipartisan commissioners. Thursday’s nominations appear to be bipartisan; Anonick currently works for the Senate Agriculture Committee’s majority staff, while Rowland is an attorney with the CFTC (and was previously on Johnson’s staff) detailed to the Agriculture Committee, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Johnson served as a CFTC commissioner until last year, while Levine appears to be a Department of Labor and former SEC counselor who has also held roles at George Washington University’s Law School and the White House Council on Economic Affairs. The Senate Agriculture Committee will need to approve the CFTC nominees, and the Senate Banking Committee will need to approve the SEC nominees, before the full Senate votes. The Senate is currently in its lame duck session after last week’s election. Newsletters State of Crypto Examining the intersection of cryptocurrency and government. Preview Sign up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy . SEC CFTC Latest Crypto News 1 North Korea's Binance hack faces U.S. crackdown as DOJ targets $1.2 billion in stolen crypto 5 minutes ago 2 Kalshi ends Donald Trump Jr.’s advisory contract over 1789 Capital’s Polymarket investment 1 hour ago 3 Illinois crypto tax is impossible to enforce as written, crypto industry tells court 6 hours ago 4 DTCC adds Solana to Wall Street tokenization plans, targeting 2027 rollout 7 hours ago 5 Crypto for Advisors: The blockchain built to run financial markets 7 hours ago 6 Jupiter adds Anchorage-backed USDGO to its $1 billion Solana lending platform 8 hours ago 7 The next Congress will write rules for AI and emerging tech. They should use the stuff first. 8 hours ago 8 Nvidia CEO Huang quits company he co-founded, led for 3 decades. Shares slump 9 hours ago 9 Bitcoin weakness erases September's bullish signal 10 hours ago 10 UK bank Griffin raises $20 million to expand into stablecoin payments 10 hours ago Latest Research Beyond the Risk-Free Rate: Diversified Real World Yield in Productive Stablecoins Beyond the Risk-Free Rate: Diversified Real World Yield in Productive Stablecoins Diversified RWA stablecoins sustain 5-7% yield from real credit as crypto funding compresses to ~4%. GENIUS pushes yield off-chain; TAM grows to $4B in 3 years. By CoinDesk Research Sep 24, 2026 Commissioned by RealFi Diversified RWA stablecoins sustain 5-7% yield from real credit as crypto funding compresses to ~4%. GENIUS pushes yield off-chain; TAM grows to $4B in 3 years. Why it matters : Diversified RWA stablecoins sustain 5-7% yield from real credit as crypto funding compresses to ~4%. GENIUS pushes yield off-chain; TAM grows to $4B in 3 years. View Full Report More From Policy North Korea's Binance hack faces U.S. crackdown as DOJ targets $1.2 billion in stolen crypto Kalshi ends Donald Trump Jr.’s advisory contract over 1789 Capital’s Polymarket investment Illinois crypto tax is impossible to enforce as written, crypto industry tells court