Image Credit: Shutterstock
- Trump nominated Steven Levine and Kristin Johnson for the SEC, and Nathan Anonick and Matthew Rowland for the CFTC.
- Levine would fill Hester Peirce’s former SEC seat; all four nominees need Senate confirmation before taking office.
- The Senate Banking and Agriculture committees review the picks as Republicans prepare to lose their Senate majority in January.
President Donald Trump has nominated four people to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), including a successor to prominent crypto advocate Hester Peirce.
The Nov. 12 announcement puts Steven Levine and Kristin N. Johnson forward for the SEC, and Nathan Anonick and Matthew Rowland for the CFTC. All four require Senate confirmation before taking office.
Levine Would Fill Peirce’s Former Seat at the SEC
Levine’s proposed term runs through June 5, 2030. Peirce resigned effective Oct. 2, leaving behind one of the SEC’s most visible records of support for clearer crypto rules.
She led the agency’s Crypto Task Force, whose work includes drawing the line between securities and other tokens, developing registration routes for crypto businesses and tailoring disclosure requirements. Those questions affect which products firms can offer and how they must operate in the U.S.
Levine already knows the agency from the inside. He served as deputy chief of staff to Mark Uyeda when Uyeda was acting SEC chairman in 2025, and has also worked as general counsel and a senior adviser at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Johnson, meanwhile, is nominated for the seat formerly held by Caroline Crenshaw, with a term ending June 5, 2029. A former CFTC commissioner appointed under President Joe Biden, she would bring experience from the other major U.S. markets regulator.
During her CFTC tenure, Johnson advocated stronger risk management, customer protections and scrutiny of artificial intelligence in financial markets. She left the commission in September 2025 after serving since March 2022.
CFTC Picks Have Worked on Crypto Market-Structure Legislation
Anonick is nominated for a term ending June 19, 2031, in the seat previously held by former CFTC chairman Rostin Behnam. Rowland would complete a term ending April 13, 2028, succeeding Summer Mersinger.
Both have worked on legislation that sought to define how crypto markets should be regulated. The Block reported that Anonick, legislative counsel to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, helped negotiate the committee’s part of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
Rowland is a CFTC attorney who worked with the same Senate committee on that legislation and its 2024 crypto bill, according to the report. Their backgrounds put them close to the debate over how responsibilities should be divided between the SEC and CFTC.
The CFTC currently lists Chairman Michael Selig as its only commissioner. Confirming both nominees would bring it to three members, adding two voices to decisions at an agency designed to have five.
Senate Review Comes Ahead of January’s Shift in Control
The slate pairs a Republican and a Democrat at each agency: Levine and Anonick are Republicans, while Johnson and Rowland are Democrats.
The picks arrive as Republicans prepare to lose their Senate majority in January following the midterm elections. That gives the current chamber an opportunity to consider them before control changes.
The Senate Banking Committee handles SEC nominations, while the Agriculture Committee considers CFTC nominees. Committee consideration would precede a confirmation decision by the full Senate.
