Trump nominates Levine to succeed Peirce among four SEC, CFTC picks

What happened

President Donald Trump sent four nominations to the Senate on Nov. 12 for the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, split evenly between the two parties. According to Unchained, they are the first nominations his administration has made to either agency across party lines. Cointelegraph reported that the White House announced the slate on Thursday. Each nominee requires Senate confirmation.

Steven Levine, a Republican from Maryland, was nominated for the SEC seat held by Hester Peirce, with a term running to June 5, 2030. Peirce, who led the agency's Crypto Task Force and was one of its most prominent advocates for clearer digital-asset rules, left the SEC in October. Unchained found no public position on crypto on record from Levine, whose most recent post was general counsel and senior adviser at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He previously worked at the SEC, where Commissioner Mark Uyeda named him deputy chief of staff in February 2025.

Democrat Kristin Johnson, a former CFTC commissioner who served until September 2025, was picked for the SEC seat held by Caroline Crenshaw, for a term ending June 5, 2029. Cointelegraph reported that Johnson advocated for stronger customer protections and conflict-of-interest rules for crypto firms during her time at the derivatives regulator. In a 2023 statement when the CFTC settled charges against DeFi operators Opyn, Deridex and ZeroEx, she argued that platforms acting as intermediaries can and should fall under a regulatory framework.

For the CFTC, Trump named Nathan Anonick, a Republican from Virginia, and Matthew Rowland, a Democrat from Washington, D.C. Both come from the Senate Agriculture Committee, which shares jurisdiction over crypto market structure. Anonick serves as legislative counsel to committee Chairman John Boozman and helped negotiate the panel's share of the Clarity Act; his term would run to June 19, 2031. Rowland is a CFTC attorney detailed to the committee, where he worked under Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar and former Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow and contributed to the Clarity Act and the committee's 2024 crypto bill, according to Crypto in America's Eleanor Terrett. His term would end April 13, 2028. Unchained reported no publicly recorded crypto stance from either man.

Why it matters

The nominations would substantially refill two agencies whose decisions shape how crypto firms operate in the United States. The SEC currently has two sitting commissioners, Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda, while CFTC Chairman Mike Selig runs his agency alone. If all four are confirmed, the SEC would have four of its five seats filled and the CFTC three of five. Selig described the CFTC pair as two strong bipartisan picks and said he looked forward to working with them after confirmation, Cointelegraph reported. In August, Coin Center Executive Director Peter Van Valkenburgh said on Unchained's Uneasy Money podcast that the CFTC still lacked a bipartisan set of commissioners, which he said made its crypto decisions harder.

What the data shows

The SEC terms run to June 5, 2029, for Johnson and June 5, 2030, for Levine. On the CFTC side, Rowland's term would end April 13, 2028, and Anonick's June 19, 2031. The current lineup is two commissioners at the SEC and one at the CFTC, against five seats at each agency.

Background

The vacancies stem from departures and expired terms. Peirce's exit in October removed the SEC's most identified crypto voice, and Crenshaw's term has also lapsed, leaving Atkins and Uyeda as the only commissioners. At the CFTC, Selig is the sole member of a five-seat commission. The Senate Banking Committee handles the SEC nominations, while the Agriculture Committee considers the CFTC picks; after committee action, each nomination goes to the full Senate, where a majority vote is needed.

What to watch

Time is the main constraint. Democrats flipped the Senate on Nov. 3 and take the gavel in January, so Republicans must move quickly. Punchbowl News reported last month that Senate Republican leaders set Nov. 20 as the date for committees to clear nominees so they could be bundled into one final batch before the lame-duck session ends. Terrett wrote on X that the bipartisan slate and cross-aisle interest in staffing both agencies could give Senate leaders reason to make exceptions.

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