President Donald Trump sent the Senate four nominees for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Thursday, his first picks for either agency in roughly a year and the first Democrats he has put forward for the two regulators.

The slate, listed in a White House announcement of nominations sent to the Senate, pairs two Democrats with two Republicans: former CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson and Republican Steven Levine were nominated to the SEC, while Republican Nathan Anonick and Democrat Matthew Rowland were nominated to the CFTC, Bloomberg Law reported. Each nominee requires Senate confirmation, with the Senate Banking Committee handling the SEC picks and the Senate Agriculture Committee taking up the CFTC pair before any vote by the full chamber.

Who the nominees are

Levine was tapped for the SEC seat left by Hester Peirce, whose term expired, for a term running through June 5, 2030. He most recently served as general counsel and a senior adviser at the White House Council of Economic Advisers and previously worked at the SEC as counsel and deputy chief of staff to Commissioner Mark Uyeda.

Peirce led the SEC's Crypto Task Force and was one of the agency's most vocal supporters of clearer crypto rules.

Johnson would take the seat formerly held by Democrat Caroline Crenshaw, for a term ending June 5, 2029. She served as a CFTC commissioner until 2025 and is a former law school professor. During her time at the CFTC, she spoke often about digital assets, including custody and decentralized finance.

Both CFTC nominees come from the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees the derivatives regulator. Anonick is legislative counsel to Chairman John Boozman and was a lead negotiator on the committee's portion of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. He was nominated to the seat once held by former Chairman Rostin Behnam, for a term ending June 19, 2031.

Rowland is a CFTC attorney detailed to the committee who also worked on the Clarity Act and the committee's 2024 crypto bill. He previously served on Johnson's staff at the CFTC, according to his LinkedIn profile, and would fill the remainder of former Commissioner Summer Mersinger's term, which expires April 13, 2028.

Both agencies can seat up to five commissioners, with no more than three from one party. The SEC currently has two, Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda. Chairman Mike Selig is the CFTC's only sitting commissioner. Confirming all four would raise the SEC to four sitting commissioners and the CFTC to three, giving both agencies sitting Democratic members in Johnson and Rowland while still leaving the SEC one seat and the CFTC two short of full strength.

Lame-duck timing and a Democratic Senate

The timing places the nominees before a Senate in its lame-duck session, weeks after Democrats swept both chambers of Congress in the Nov. 3 midterms. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of crypto's sharpest critics, is expected to chair the Banking Committee when the new Congress is seated in January.

The pairing of Democrats with Republicans could matter for confirmation. After the election, TD Cowen's Jaret Seiberg told clients he did not expect Democrats to confirm Trump nominees unless the president filled Democratic seats at agencies such as the SEC, a step he called unlikely. Thursday's slate does exactly that at both regulators.

The nominations also land with crypto market structure legislation stalled. The Clarity Act failed a Senate cloture vote 49-50 on Sept. 15 and dies on Jan. 3 unless the lame-duck session revives it. Anonick and Rowland worked on that bill from the committee side, meaning the same session weighing their nominations would also decide the fate of the measure they helped draft.

Without new law, the SEC and CFTC have set crypto policy largely on their own this year. Selig's CFTC opened the door to equity perpetual futures, and a federal judge later said the agency likely overstepped while letting trading continue.

The White House did not say when it expects the Senate to act. The open question is whether a Senate heading for Democratic control moves the four nominees before January, or leaves the SEC and CFTC running with skeleton commissions into 2027.

This article first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and was written by Micah Zimmerman.