Trump Nominates Steven Levine to Replace Hester Peirce at SEC

President Donald Trump nominated Steven Levine to replace Hester Peirce at the SEC, with a term ending June 5, 2030. The nomination is one of four for the SEC and CFTC sent to the Senate on November 12, according to BeInCrypto; the list also names Kristin N. Johnson and Levine for the SEC, and Nathan Anonick and Matthew Rowland for the CFTC. Peirce, known as “Crypto Mom,” led the SEC’s Crypto Task Force before leaving the agency on October 2. Levine, a Republican lawyer who has said little publicly about crypto regulation, joined the SEC in 2020 as senior counsel in the Division of Investment Management and later advised Commissioner Mark Uyeda. He became general counsel at the White House Council of Economic Advisers in February 2025 and senior counselor to the Labor Secretary in November 2026. SEC records show Levine met Grayscale and Invesco-Galaxy in December 2023 about spot Bitcoin ETP applications, then joined Uyeda in a meeting with Paradigm two months later on custody and exchange rule proposals; the records do not state his positions. Johnson, a Democrat, would fill the SEC seat formerly held by Caroline Crenshaw. Biden nominated her to the CFTC, where she served from 2022 until September 2025. In her farewell speech, she said prediction markets lacked guardrails and regulators had limited visibility, raised concern about interference in independent agencies, and said the CFTC likely needed commissioners from both parties. Senate committees will review the nominations, with the Banking Committee handling Levine and Johnson. Nominations pending when the current Congress ends on January 3 are returned to the president.