President Donald Trump nominated Steven Levine on Thursday for the Securities and Exchange Commission seat that Hester Peirce vacated in October. Peirce led the SEC’s Crypto Task Force and publicly advocated clearer crypto rules. Crypto firms have lost that advocacy at the SEC as the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission continue work on digital-asset rules. Levine’s views on crypto regulation are not publicly established.
Levine is one of four nominees Trump sent to the Senate in November 2026, two for each agency. The SEC currently has two commissioners across five seats, while the CFTC has one commissioner across five seats. The White House nomination notice also names Democrat Kristin Johnson for the SEC seat formerly held by Caroline Crenshaw. Johnson, a former CFTC commissioner, has pressed for stronger customer protections and rules addressing conflicts of interest at crypto firms.
Trump nominated Republican Nathan Anonick and Democrat Matthew Rowland for the CFTC, which oversees futures and other derivatives markets. Both worked on the Clarity Act, a bill intended to set rules for crypto markets. Anonick helped negotiate the Senate Agriculture Committee’s portion of the bill. Rowland is a CFTC attorney who worked on it while assigned to the committee.
The Clarity Act failed to advance in the Senate on Sept. 15. It expires on Jan. 3 unless Congress revives it during the lame-duck session. If Congress leaves market structure to regulators, the commissioners who fill these seats will vote on agency rules that affect crypto firms.
Each nominee needs Senate confirmation. The Senate Banking Committee handles SEC nominations, and the Agriculture Committee handles CFTC nominations before any vote by the full Senate. Democrats are set to take control of the Senate in January, leaving Republicans a short window to move Trump’s picks under the current majority.
