Who Will Police Your Crypto at the SEC? Trump Just Picked Hester Peirce’s Replacement
President Donald Trump has nominated Steven Levine to replace Hester Peirce at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with the Republican lawyer set to serve a term ending June 5, 2030.
Peirce, widely known as "Crypto Mom," led the SEC's Crypto Task Force before leaving the agency on October 2. Levine has said little publicly about crypto regulation, leaving his career as the clearest record of his work on the subject.
Levine's Career Path
Levine served as associate in the asset management group at law firm K&L Gates before joining the SEC in 2020 as senior counsel in the Division of Investment Management. He later became counsel to Commissioner Mark Uyeda and served as deputy chief of staff when Uyeda became acting chair in 2025.
From February 2025, Levine served as general counsel at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and as senior counselor to the Labor Secretary since November 2026, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Crypto Work at SEC
Levine's crypto work appears in SEC meeting records. In December 2023, he met with Grayscale and Invesco-Galaxy about their spot Bitcoin exchange-traded product applications. Two months later, he joined Uyeda in a meeting with crypto investor Paradigm on SEC custody and exchange rule proposals.
These meetings show Levine handled crypto files. The memos record the topics discussed, without his positions.
Senate Review Ahead
Levine is among four SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission nominees sent to the Senate on November 12. The list also includes Democrat Kristin Johnson for the SEC seat formerly held by Caroline Crenshaw. All four nominations now go to Senate committees, with the Banking Committee reviewing Levine and Johnson.
Nominations still pending when the current Congress ends on January 3 will be returned to the president for reconsideration.
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