Trump CFTC Pick Poised for One-Man Show Shaping US Crypto Rules

A Wall Street regulator that typically operates under bipartisan balance may soon find itself under the control of just one commissioner—President Donald Trump’s nominee—even as it gears up to take on a potential role policing cryptocurrency trading.

Brian Quintenz, the head of policy at Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto arm, appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee for a nomination hearing on June 10 and is expected to take charge of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission following a floor vote. He’ll likely be flying solo for a time, as the two existing commissioners have announced plans to depart and the other two seats remain vacant.

“At some point, Brian may be the only commissioner,” said Carl Kennedy, a partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP and former special counsel at the CFTC. “By year end, he will have a lot on his plate and will be the only commissioner tasked with having to address full agency action.”

Quitenz’s full plate may include implementing the “CLARITY Act” (H.R. 3633), crypto market structure legislation approved by a pair of House committees last week that would give the agency a central role overseeing digital assets, including digital commodity exchanges, brokers, and dealers.

The CFTC is also contending with thorny questions about how to regulate event contracts around elections and sports and what to do with its $21 million office lease, on top of its mandate to police trillions of dollars in financial derivatives trading by companies looking to hedge risks.

No more than three of the CFTC’s five commissioners can come from the same party, but there’s nothing stopping Quintenz from serving as the sole decision-maker.

Faced with questions from Democratic senators at his confirmation hearing, Quintenz said the CFTC can fully carry out its duties even with vacancies at the top, as was the case during his previous stint as a Republican commissioner during the Obama administration.

“I would pledge to you that I will work with whoever is at the Commission to keep the bipartisan spirit of the agency alive,” he said.

Leading the CFTC by himself, Quintenz may bring some efficiency to a regulatory body known for frequent dissent in recent years, lawyers and former agency staff members said.

But he’d also likely have to delegate tasks to senior staff members if ethics rules require him to step aside, leaving the agency more vulnerable to any legal challenges.

Quintenz at his hearing faced questions, for instance, about his ability to police prediction markets as a board member of Kalshi Inc., a recent adversary of the CFTC with whom the agency last month opted to settle rather than continue fighting in court.

A CFTC spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Party of One

Quintenz as the sole commissioner will need to properly allocate CFTC resources to a defined set of rulemaking and enforcement priorities to avoid logistical bottlenecks in the absence of a fully staffed commission, said Liz Davis, a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and former chief trial attorney in the agency’s enforcement division.

“It’s going to be a lot on Brian and his staff to move all of these things forward while also running the agency,” she said. “The challenges are really with the current administration and the number of people who are left, notably people with institutional knowledge at the division leadership level, where they’ve lost a lot of experienced people.”

The CFTC has also lost employees new to their role, including in February when it fired around a dozen probationary employees as part of Trump’s bid to slash the federal workforce, Bloomberg News reported at the time. Long overshadowed by the SEC, the CFTC has fewer than 700 employees and a budget under $400 million in fiscal 2025, according to its most recent budget request.

Among the top ranks, Commissioners Summer Mersinger and Christy Goldsmith Romero departed the agency at the end of May, and acting Chair Caroline Pham and Commissioner Kristin Johnson announced their own plans to leave this year.

That would leave Quintenz alone at the top.

Crypto’s Coming

If enacted, the crypto legislation advancing through the House would be an immediate priority for Quintenz.

The CFTC would have to focus on writing rules for registrants to comply with the agency’s new oversight of digital assets, rather than pursuing widespread enforcement beyond instances of fraud and manipulation, according to Davis.

The CFTC in fiscal 2024 reported more than $17 billion in monetary relief, with digital asset cases including actions involving FTX, Binance, and Voyager’s former chief executive comprising a significant portion of that total.

“The CFTC has had a real track record of being an authority that is able to handle the crypto space,” said Phil Selden, member at Cole Schotz PC and former acting US Attorney for the District of Maryland. “I would see that path continuing, but with a leader who is going to be nimble and also thoughtful.”

Quintenz, for his part, touts his crypto bona fides as a qualification rather than a conflict, telling senators last week that he has insights into how regulators around the world are approaching crypto and a conviction to ensure blockchain technology in the US isn’t compromised by bad actors.

He also pledged in an ethics agreement last month to divest some crypto positions if confirmed, and to recuse himself for two years from specific matters involving Andreessen Horowitz Capital Management or its funds.

But he declined at his nomination hearing to explicitly recommend that Trump nominate commissioners from both parties to partake in the agency’s highly anticipated moves on crypto and other hot-button issues.

“Generally, presidents in the past from both parties have sought to appoint one Democrat, one Republican at the same time,” Kennedy, the former CFTC special counsel, said. “But this administration doesn’t do things by historical practice.”