The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking to hire another “crypto specialist.” A job posting on USAJobs, an official government jobs portal, shows that the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets intends to hire a new legal expert to assist in developing a “comprehensive plan” that would address crypto and digital asset securities.
Applicants must possess a Juris Doctor (J.D.) or Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree and have 4 years of post J.D. work experience as a practicing attorney, with focus on interpreting and applying laws governing the securities industry. They must also have an active membership of Federal Bar Association and be in “good standing.”
The new hire will have several responsibilities, including to apply their “knowledge of federal securities laws to digital asset securities and crypto matters, i.e., broker-dealer, exchange, clearing agency and transfer registrations, exchange product applications, sales and trading practices, etc.”
They will also serve as the division’s lead representative in the SEC’s FinTech Working Group and as a liaison with the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s (FSOC’s) Digital Assets Working Group, as Coindesk reports. According to the job posting, the new hire will serve as the division’s point of contact for U.S. and international regulators, market participants and the public.
The job posting marks a likely further step by the SEC in clearing regulatory gray areas for the cryptocurrency industry in the U.S. The position may be offered initially for a two-year trial period, offering a salary in the range of $144,850–$238,787 a year.
The agency appointed its first-ever crypto czar, Valerie Szczepanik, last year as the associate director of the Division of Corporation Finance and senior advisor for digital assets and innovation. Szczepanik coordinates “efforts across all SEC Divisions and Offices regarding the application of U.S. securities laws to emerging digital asset technologies and innovations, including initial coin offerings and cryptocurrencies.”
