The brand new chief counsel of the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee’s (SEC) freshly-created Crypto Activity Power is a crypto lawyer.
Mike Selig, who was named chief counsel of the duty power in a Monday announcement from the SEC, was beforehand a New York-based companion at white-shoe worldwide legislation agency Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the place he was a member of the agency’s crypto follow. Earlier than becoming a member of Willkie, Selig interned for the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC).
In a Monday X put up, former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, affectionately often known as “CryptoDad” by many within the trade, congratulated Selig on his appointment. Giancarlo can also be senior counsel at Wilkie Farr, the place he leads the agency’s Digital Works follow.
“Proud and excited for my protege, former CFTC intern and Willkie companion Mike Selig to be named chief counsel to the brand new SEC Crypto Activity Power,” Giancarlo wrote.
Final October, Selig wrote an op-ed for CoinDesk laying out his options for the way the SEC might transfer away from the so-called “regulation by enforcement” the company practiced underneath former Chair Gary Gensler and as a substitute create a regulatory surroundings that encourages innovation. A number of of Selig’s options — together with rescinding the controversial Workers Accounting Bulletin 121 and withdrawing from sure lawsuits – have already been carried out by the brand new Crypto Activity Power.
Selig was considered one of 14 employees members named within the Monday announcement. His colleagues embrace a number of crypto trade natives — Landon Zinda, former coverage director at crypto suppose tank Coin Middle, and Veronica Reynolds, a former lawyer at Baker Hostetler LLP targeted on NFTs and metaverse-related authorized points, each of whom will function senior advisors to the duty power — in addition to profession SEC employees. Zinda’s appointment to the duty power was introduced in February.
“The Crypto Activity Power reveals deep experience and an enthusiastic dedication to figuring out — with the assistance of different proficient employees throughout the Fee and members of the general public — workable options to troublesome crypto regulatory issues,” Commissioner Hester Peirce, the chief of the duty power, mentioned in a Monday assertion.
On March 21, the duty power will host its first roundtable dialogue, titled “How We Bought Right here and How We Get Out – Defining Safety Standing” in an upcoming collection on crypto regulation.