Trump Taps Former SEC Chair Jay Clayton as AI Czar
Jay Clayton, the former SEC chair, has been appointed by President Trump as the head of a new 'Super Intelligence Force' focused on AI research. He will spend the next 120 days assessing AI's risks and opportunities. Clayton's background in finance and technology makes him a suitable choice for this role. In the past, he was involved in the SEC's decision to sue Ripple over the classification of XRP as a security.
Clayton's views on digital assets have largely been vindicated by recent regulatory changes. The SEC and CFTC have shifted their classification of several major crypto assets, treating them as digital commodities rather than securities. This change in classification was predicted by Clayton in 2022 and 2023, when he stated that digital assets would become part of global financial infrastructure and that programmable assets and interoperability would arrive.