Former Chainlink Exec Replaces Michael Selig As SEC’s Crypto Task Force Chief Counsel

As the Trump administration pushes lawmakers and regulators to develop clear regulatory frameworks, a former Chainlink executive has joined the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Crypto Task Force as its new legal chief.

In an X post, the company thanked Lindman for his service, affirming that it looks forward to “modernizing the U.S. financial system together, taking it to the next level of its development and rapid growth.”

Following the departure of Gary Gensler, the SEC’s former acting chairman, Mark Uyeda, established the Crypto Task Force to review the agency’s approach to digital assets and to develop a clear, comprehensive regulatory framework.

Since its launch, the task force has held multiple roundtable events to engage with industry leaders and discuss different aspects of the sector’s regulation, including tokenization, DeFi, financial surveillance, and privacy.

He noted that the two Commissions are “planning great things together – harmonization, joint rulemaking – a common, coordinated approach unlike anything seen before at these two, often sparring agencies.”

In addition, he announced that in the coming months, the agency will review multiple initiatives, including a Commission framework “to explain how we think about crypto assets that are subject to an investment contract.”

In addition, they will consider an innovation exemption for firms to facilitate limited trading of certain tokenized securities on novel platforms; no-action letters and exemptive orders to provide additional clarity; rulemaking on custody of non-security digital assets, such as payment stablecoins, by broker-dealers; and a transfer agent modernization rulemaking, which will “accommodate the role that blockchain can play in recordkeeping.”

“Under Commissioner Hester Peirce’s leadership of our Crypto Task Force, SEC staff has provided more clarity in the past year than in the prior decade, but there is no action we can take that future-proofs our rulebook more formidably than nonpartisan market structure legislation,” he stated.