XRP's Old Nemesis Gets a New Sidequest: Jay Clayton Nominated for Intelligence Chief 🇺🇸

President Donald Trump nominated former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton on Thursday to serve as Director of National Intelligence, placing the onetime regulator who sued Ripple Labs in the top U.S. intelligence role. The nomination, which requires Senate confirmation, comes as Clayton currently serves as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and would replace acting appointee Bill Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency Director who was handed the role on an acting basis earlier this month.

Clayton authorized the SEC's complaint against Ripple Labs on December 22, 2020, his last full day as chairman. The agency alleged the company raised $1.3 billion through unregistered XRP sales and that executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen made roughly $600 million in personal sales. Garlinghouse publicly accused Clayton of treating XRP more harshly than Bitcoin ($BTC) or Ethereum ($ETH). In August 2024, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that only Ripple's institutional sales violated securities law and fined the firm $125 million, well below the nearly $2 billion the SEC had sought. Both sides dropped their remaining appeals in 2025.

XRP, the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, traded near $1.13 on Thursday with a roughly $71 billion market capitalization, gaining nearly 4% on the day. Trump announced the pick on Truth Social, writing: "I am pleased to announce the Nomination of very Highly Respected Jay Clayton, former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission… to be the next Director of National Intelligence and, importantly, to serve in my Cabinet."

The nomination follows bipartisan friction over Pulte, whose pro-crypto mortgage policies drew market enthusiasm but whose lack of intelligence experience drew objections from House Democrats, who blocked a short-term FISA Section 702 extension on Thursday in protest. Clayton offers Senate Republicans a familiar path, having been confirmed 61-37 to lead the SEC in 2017, though critics note he also lacks an intelligence background. Confirmation hearings will now test Clayton on surveillance and national security policy.