The new chief counsel of the SEC's Crypto Task Force is a crypto lawyer.

Mike Selig, who was named chief counsel of the task force in a Monday announcement from the SEC, was previously a New York-based partner at white-shoe international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, where he was a member of the firm's crypto practice.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) newly-created Crypto Task Force is bringing on several new staff members, including a crypto lawyer and two figures from the crypto industry, according to an announcement Monday.

Among the 14 staff members named in the announcement is Mike Selig, who will serve as chief counsel of the task force. Selig, a crypto lawyer with experience at both the CFTC and a major international law firm, is one of several new hires to the task force, which is headed by Commissioner Hester Peirce.

The task force is focused on developing a comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. It is also charged with coordinating the SEC’s efforts to enforce the federal securities laws in the crypto industry.

Selig is a partner in the New York office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, where he is a member of the firm’s cryptocurrency and blockchain practice. He previously served as an intern in the Division of Commodities and Futures Law at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Selig is also a graduate of Harvard Law School and Phi Beta Kappa at Duke University.

In a Monday X post, former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, affectionately known as “CryptoDad” by many in the industry, congratulated Selig on his appointment. Giancarlo is also senior counsel at Wilkie Farr, where he leads the firm’s Digital Works practice.

“Proud and excited for my protege, former CFTC intern and Willkie partner Mike Selig to be named chief counsel to the new SEC Crypto Task Force,” Giancarlo wrote.

Last October, Selig wrote an op-ed for CoinDesk laying out his suggestions for how the SEC could move away from the so-called “regulation by enforcement” the agency practiced under former Chair Gary Gensler and instead create a regulatory environment that encourages innovation. Several of Selig’s suggestions — including rescinding the controversial Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 and withdrawing from certain lawsuits — have already been implemented by the new Crypto Task Force.

Selig is one of 14 staff members named in the Monday announcement. His colleagues include several crypto industry natives — Landon Zinda, former policy director at crypto think tank Coin Center, and Veronica Reynolds, a former attorney at Baker Hostetler LLP focused on NFTs and metaverse-related legal issues, both of whom will serve as senior advisors to the task force — as well as career SEC staff. Zinda’s appointment to the task force was announced in February.

“The Crypto Task Force exhibits deep expertise and an enthusiastic commitment to identifying — with the help of other talented staff across the Commission and interested members of the public — workable solutions to difficult crypto regulatory problems,” Peirce said in a statement.

The task force is part of the SEC’s broader effort to regulate the crypto industry. The agency has already brought several enforcement actions against crypto firms and executives, and it is currently considering several proposals for new crypto regulations.