Trump Taps Jay Clayton, the SEC Chair Who Sued Ripple, to Lead AI Push

The man who started the SEC’s crackdown on crypto is now steering Washington’s approach to artificial intelligence.

President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Sunday the creation of a “Super Intelligence Force,” a task force charged with coordinating the federal government’s effort to keep the U.S. ahead in AI.

“Super Intelligence” is Trump’s preferred term for the technology. Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton is first among the force’s listed leaders and has been widely reported as the administration’s new AI czar.

The group will coordinate federal engagement with consumers, public interest groups, religious organizations, critical infrastructure providers and AI companies, Trump wrote. Joining Clayton are Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael and Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor. The force will report to Trump and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.

The announcement follows what Trump called the “Historic White House Accord on Super Intelligence,” in which major tech companies “confirmed their responsibilities to the American People,” he wrote. AI company leaders met with Trump at the White House last week.

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For crypto, Clayton is a familiar and polarizing name. As SEC chair during Trump’s first term, he set in motion the agency’s regulation-by-enforcement approach. He brought 57 cases against crypto firms, ICOs and other blockchain projects, a tally he touted on his way out of the agency.

His most consequential crypto move came at the very end. In December 2020, in one of his final acts as chair, Clayton’s SEC sued Ripple for $1.3 billion, alleging the company sold XRP as an unregistered security. The case became a template for many of the lawsuits Gary Gensler’s SEC later brought against major token issuers and exchanges.

Clayton’s crypto record has zigzagged since. After leaving the SEC, he joined One River Asset Management as a crypto adviser in 2021, and also sat on the advisory board of crypto custodian Fireblocks.

Trump first tried to put Clayton atop the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan in 2020, while he still led the SEC. In 2025, he installed Clayton as interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. There, Clayton’s office pushed ahead with the prosecution of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm.

Trump’s post didn’t spell out the Super Intelligence Force’s mandate or timeline.