Senate sets hearing date for crypto ally CFTC chair nominee

Brian Quintenz, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), is set to face the Senate Agriculture Committee on June 10. 

The committee oversees commodities and futures regulation and will hold a hearing to evaluate Quintenz’s nomination as chair of the powerful financial regulatory agency. 

Quintenz is a former CFTC commissioner, having served on the committee from 2017 to 2021. His nomination comes during a period of great change for the commission. Two commissioners, Summer Mersinger and Christy Goldsmith Romero, resigned their positions in late May. That has left the five-member panel with only two confirmed commissioners as of June 1.

Rostin Behnam, the previous chairman, left in February. The CFTC is overseen by acting Chairwoman Caroline Pham and Commissioner Kristin Johnson. But both have publicly declared their plans to depart, Pham for a private-sector position and Johnson to step down later this year. That’s because Quintenz’s confirmation could lead to a wholesale change in leadership at the CFTC.

Crypto ally moves to lead CFTC

Quintenz is a known proponent of cryptocurrencies. In 2021, he joined Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto-focussed venture arm, a16z Crypto, as head of policy. In that role, he advocated for lighter regulation of the digital asset industry and regularly took the position that it was the CFTC’s job, not the SEC’s, to take the lead on regulating cryptocurrencies.

He is one of the types in the crypto world who think our current regime, especially from the SEC, is too harsh. The industry is receptive to a Quintenz-led CFTC, seeing him as someone who gets both innovation and markets.

If he is confirmed, Quintenz will probably weigh in on issues such as decentralized finance (DeFi), crypto derivatives, prediction markets, and clearing systems involving blockchains, all of the topics the CFTC is currently evaluating. His stewardship could influence how US policy evolves in response to the rapidly changing world of digital finance, such as potential legislation around stablecoins and digital commodities.

While he has the backing of the crypto world, Quintenz’s nomination isn’t without controversy. He filed financial disclosures before the hearing reflecting holdings valued at about $3.4 million in crypto and industry-related companies. Ethics watchdogs have sounded the alarm about how this stake could influence his neutrality if he were to be confirmed.

There’s a particular concern about his board seat with Kalshi, a prediction market platform that recently tussled with the CFTC over its pursuit to offer contracts linked to US elections. Quintenz has recused himself from some CFTC cases related to Kalshi but has not agreed to take himself out of Kalshi cases in the future. Critics say this could undermine trust in the commission’s independence and objectivity.

Trump seeks to reshape CFTC leadership

If confirmed by the Senate, Quintenz would be the only sitting commissioner named by Trump. However, with Pham and Johnson due to step down, the president was given the opening to nominate as many as four new commissioners. That would empower the president to have broad control over the CFTC’s leadership for the first time in his current tenure.

No more than three commissioners can be members of the same political party under CFTC rules. Because Quintenz is a Republican, Trump would have been allowed to nominate two more Republicans and two Democrats to complete the panel. Each nominee would still need to be confirmed by the Senate.

This remolding of the CFTC could dramatically change the regulatory philosophy of the agency. The commission has long been seen as more tech and innovation-friendly than the SEC and could lean even further in that direction under Trump’s picks. This shift could affect not just the crypto markets but also futures, options, and swaps — pillars of the United States’ financial infrastructure.

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