Trump Nominates Two Candidates Who Will Decide Fate of Big Tech and Cryptocurrency

President-elect Donald Trump nominated two nominees Wednesday who, if confirmed by the Senate, will form a significant part of the administration’s technology enforcement.

Paul Atkins, former Republican stock exchange director It’s Trump’s choice. He will lead the agency, replacing Biden-appointed Chairman and cryptocurrency Gary Gensler. The choice of Atkins, who co-chairs the Token Alliance at the Digital Chamber, a group dedicated to the use of digital assets, signals a sharp departure from Biden-era cryptocurrency policy. Trump said in the announcement that Atkins “recognizes the importance of digital assets and other innovations in making America greater than ever before.”

In his announcement on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Big tech has been stifling competition in the most innovative sectors for years, and as we all know, it has used its market power to suppress the rights of countless Americans. Same goes for Little Tech’s!” Trump is borrowing a favorite term from Marc Andreessen when he refers to “Little Tech.” Andreessen, a venture capitalist and cryptocurrency supporter who publicly supported Trump in this election, said: Contrast of policies helpful to startups Compare with the largest technology companies.

Slater has worked in a variety of areas, historically serving as general counsel to former Democratic FTC Commissioner Julie Brill (who now serves as Microsoft’s chief privacy officer). Her experience working for Vance, who has publicly praised Biden’s FTC Chair Lina Khan for her aggressive approach to technology, suggests that Big Tech is likely to remain a major target of antitrust investigations in the future.