White House Is Pulling Quintenz’s Nomination for CFTC Chair (1)

Brian Quintenz is no longer President Donald Trump’s pick to chair the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, after weeks of speculation about his stalled candidacy.

Quintenz, who has led global policy for a16z crypto, said Tuesday he looked forward to returning to his work in the private sector.

Brian Quintenz during a Senate committee confirmation hearing

interests: digital assets and event contracts. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

“Being nominated to chair the CFTC and going through the confirmation process was the honor of my life,” Quintenz said in a statement. “I am grateful to the President for that opportunity and to the Senate Agriculture Committee for its consideration.”

A White House official confirmed the move and said the Trump administration looks forward to working with Quintenz in other capacities, without elaborating. Trump wants to make America the crypto capital of the world and wants the CFTC to play a larger role in that, the official said.

The official also said the president will be announcing a new nominee for the CFTC in the near future.

The pulling of Quintenz’s nomination was reported earlier by Politico.

Action on Quintenz’s nomination was delayed in July after the Trump administration asked the Senate Agriculture Committee to pause a planned vote. It later emerged that billionaire Tyler Winklevoss, a key Trump backer and co-founder of Gemini Space Station Inc., had asked the White House to delay the confirmation process.

Quintenz took to social media in September to suggest the president “might have been misled” by the Gemini founders. Quintenz posted screenshots of private messages he said he had exchanged with Tyler Winklevoss in late July, before the White House asked the Senate panel to delay the vote.

Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that the White House was weighing additional candidates to chair the agency.

Intended to be a five-person commission, the CFTC is down to just acting Chair Caroline Pham after commissioner resignations. The agency oversees trillions of dollars in swaps trading and would gain more authority over the burgeoning crypto industry under legislation being considered in Congress.

(Updates with additional detail throughout.)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Nicola M White in Washington at nicwhite@bloomberg.net;
Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Megan Howard at mhoward70@bloomberg.net

Ben Bain, Romy Varghese

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