Jay Clayton (제이 클레이턴), a former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has been formally confirmed as director of national intelligence. In the cryptocurrency industry, he is well known as the person who started the XRP securities lawsuit against Ripple Labs, drawing industry attention to his return.

On July 29 local time, blockchain outlet U.Today reported that the U.S. Senate approved Clayton's nomination in a full session vote, 51 in favour and 47 against.

Clayton is better known in the crypto industry as the figure at the starting point of the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple Labs. On Dec. 22, 2020, effectively his last day on the job as SEC chairman, he filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Chris Larsen. At the time, the SEC claimed they carried out an unregistered securities offering worth $1.3 billion through XRP sales.

The lawsuit later became a regulatory dispute representing the cryptocurrency industry. Clayton left the SEC shortly after the case was filed, but the lawsuit continued under his successor, former SEC chairman Gary Gensler, and the court sided with Ripple on key issues, having a major impact across the industry.

The confirmation process also showed political confrontation over personnel in the Donald Trump administration. After the Senate passed a motion to end debate the previous day by 51-43, the final vote on the day followed the same party-line pattern, with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed. Two senators did not participate in the vote.

At a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing, Clayton faced criticism that he lacked experience working in the intelligence community. After passing a committee vote led by Republicans, he also secured majority support on the Senate floor.

Clayton's career has moved between the private and public sectors. Nominated as SEC chairman in the first Trump administration in 2017, he cleared Senate confirmation with bipartisan support by 61-37 and led the SEC through 2020.

After returning to the private sector, he was appointed in 2025 as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, overseeing terrorism and organised crime, sanctions violations and financial fraud cases. He was then nominated in June 2026 as a successor candidate after the resignation of former director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and will formally take office following the Senate confirmation.

Markets do not expect the appointment to bring direct changes to cryptocurrency regulatory policy, as it is the selection of an intelligence agency chief. Still, as a former SEC chief who set the XRP lawsuit in motion moves into the top job overseeing U.S. intelligence agencies, his past regulatory actions are again drawing attention from the industry.