Former President Trump nominated former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. During his tenure as SEC Chairman from 2017 to 2020, Clayton led several enforcement actions in the cryptocurrency space, including lawsuits against ICO projects Kik and Telegram, as well as a lawsuit against Ripple, accusing it of raising funds through unregistered XRP sales. Gary Gensler stated that Clayton's enforcement efforts in the crypto market kept the SEC on high alert.