Jay Clayton, a potential candidate for crypto czar, established the SEC’s regulation-by-enforcement approach to digital assets while serving as chairman during Trump’s first administration. He created the SEC’s Cyber Unit in 2017 to police initial coin offerings (ICOs), then launched the agency’s high-profile case against Ripple Labs in 2020, alleging the company failed to register $1.3 billion in XRP tokens as securities. Current SEC Chairman Paul Atkins dismissed the Ripple action last year. By the time Clayton left the SEC in 2020, the agency had brought 57 enforcement cases involving digital assets, blockchain businesses and ICOs. His record predates the enforcement stance associated with former Chairman Gary Gensler. Clayton had previously served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and was appointed this year as Trump’s director of national intelligence.