President Donald Trump nominated four people to fill vacancies at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the White House announced on November 12.
Steven Levine, a Republican, is tapped for the seat that Hester Peirce, the former head of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, vacated when she left the agency in October. All four nominees require Senate confirmation before they can take their seats.
Two Picks for Each Commission
Levine would serve a term ending June 5, 2030, stepping into the vacancy Peirce created. The second SEC nominee is Kristin Johnson, a Democrat and former CFTC commissioner, who is named for the seat held by Caroline Crenshaw. Crenshaw’s term has expired, and Johnson’s proposed term runs through June 5, 2029.
On the CFTC side, the White House picked Nathan Anonick, a Republican, and Matthew Rowland, a Democrat. Both worked on the CLARITY Act, the bipartisan legislation that would split crypto oversight between the SEC and the CFTC based on whether a digital asset qualifies as a security or a commodity, Cointelegraph reported.
Their confirmation would bring the CFTC above its current single-member operation, as Chairman Michael Selig is the sole commissioner on the agency’s five-seat panel. The SEC currently has two of its five commissioner seats filled, both held by Republicans, allowing the remaining commissioners to continue taking action under the agency’s amended quorum rule.
CFTC Chairman Backs the Nominations
Selig welcomed the picks, calling Anonick and Rowland “two strong bipartisan picks” and confirming he looked forward to working alongside them. Johnson, during her time at the CFTC, advocated for stronger customer protections and conflict-of-interest rules aimed at crypto firms, bringing cross-agency experience to her potential SEC role.
Levine’s stance on cryptocurrency regulation is less publicly established than that of his predecessor. Peirce was widely viewed as a proponent of clearer rules for the digital-asset industry and frequently dissented from enforcement actions she considered overreach. Her departure left the commission without its most vocal advocate for a principles-based crypto framework.
Confirmation Faces a Compressed Calendar
SEC nominees would typically go before the Senate Banking Committee, and CFTC nominees before the Senate Agriculture Committee. From there, each nomination moves to the full Senate floor, where confirmation requires a majority vote.
Democrats take control of the upper chamber in January, leaving the current Republican majority a narrow window to advance all four confirmations before the new session begins. Crypto-related nominations have drawn bipartisan interest in recent sessions, but the compressed timeline adds political uncertainty.
The SEC’s two remaining Republican commissioners can continue voting on rules and taking other agency actions under an amended quorum rule that took effect on October 2, 2026. Adopted without public comment, the rule allows the commission to act even when only one eligible commissioner remains because another is recused. Senate committee hearing dates have not been announced.
The nominees’ positions on stablecoin regulation, token classification, and the CLARITY Act’s jurisdictional split between the two agencies are expected to dominate the confirmation process.
Until confirmed, both commissions will continue operating with limited membership, potentially slowing the development and implementation of rules that could shape the next phase of United States digital-asset oversight.
