SEC Names JPMorgan Veteran Paul Knight as COO

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is adding a new operations chief at a moment when the agency is trying to move faster on crypto, market structure and investor protection.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday (July 6) that Paul Knight has been named chief operating officer, putting a former SEC official and JPMorgan Chase executive in charge of the agency’s operational and administrative machinery.

As COO, Knight will oversee a wide range of internal offices, including human resources, acquisitions, financial management, the EDGAR Business Office, the chief data officer, the chief risk officer and support operations, which include FOIA, records management and facilities management.

That may sound like back-office work. It is also the plumbing that determines how quickly a regulator can execute. For banks, FinTechs, payments companies and crypto firms, the appointment comes as the SEC is signaling a more active role in defining the rules for digital markets.

Knight joins the SEC from JPMorgan Chase, where he most recently worked as principal lead for driving growth across U.S. lines of business. Before that, he managed the program office for Chase Bank’s expansion into 25 new states. He also served at the Treasury Department from 2012 to 2014 and previously worked at the SEC from 2008 to 2012, including as interim managing executive for the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis.

“It’s an honor to come back and join the professional staff at the SEC as we support the work of the Commission,” Knight said in the release.

Knight’s appointment follows a stretch of SEC activity closely watched by the payments and digital asset sectors. PYMNTS recently reported that SEC Chairman Paul Atkins urged clearer rules for on-chain trading and encouraged Congress to pass the CLARITY Act. PYMNTS also covered the SEC’s position that certain crypto interfaces can operate without broker-dealer registration, a development that could affect how wallets, trading tools and crypto platforms interact with users.

The agency has also been moving on stablecoins. PYMNTS reported that new SEC guidance pushed stablecoins closer to cash-like treatment in some broker-dealer contexts, while noting that the guidance was narrow and did not eliminate liquidity, custody or operational risk. Earlier coverage also noted that the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission had provided more clarity around their respective roles in crypto oversight.