Three news to start your week: December 9
Donald Trump picks crypto enthusiast Paul Atkins for SEC chair
(Financial Times)
Donald Trump has selected Paul Atkins to lead the US Securities and Exchange Commission, indicating a shift towards a more relaxed regulatory approach at Wall Street's primary oversight body.
"Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations," Trump stated in a post on Truth Social. He emphasized that Atkins, a former SEC commissioner, understands the importance of digital assets and other innovations in advancing the goal of Making America Greater than Ever Before.
This announcement follows Trump's nomination of Gail Slater to oversee the Department of Justice's antitrust division. Trump urged the aide to JD Vance to maintain a rigorous stance against Big Tech.
Colombia replaces finance minister amid corruption scandal
(Reuters)
Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that Finance Vice Minister Diego Guevara will assume the Minister of Finance role following Ricardo Bonilla's resignation, who stepped down amid a significant corruption scandal.
Petro had anticipated Bonilla's resignation but expressed his belief that the former minister had not engaged in any misconduct.
The expanding scandal, currently under investigation by the attorney general's office and other authorities, involves the alleged misallocation of funds from the national disaster management agency (UNGRD) and is connected to several officials, including a former interior minister.
US appeals court upholds TikTok law forcing its sale
(Reuters)
A US federal appeals court upheld a law mandating that ByteDance, the Chinese-based parent company of TikTok, divest its popular short video app in the United States by early next year or face a ban. This ruling marks a significant victory for the Justice Department and critics of the Chinese-owned platform while delivering a severe setback to ByteDance. With just six weeks remaining, the possibility of an unprecedented ban looms over a social media app utilized by 170 million Americans. TikTok intends to challenge this decision in the Supreme Court.
The Justice Department has expressed that TikTok poses a risk under Chinese ownership due to its access to vast amounts of personal data from Americans, claiming that the Chinese government could potentially manipulate the information that users encounter on the platform.
