Update (Oct. 1, 1:20 am UTC): This article has been updated to add a comment from Brian Quintenz and further information.
The Trump White House has withdrawn Brian Quintenz’s nomination to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
“Being nominated to chair the CFTC and going through the confirmation process was the honor of my life,” Quintenz told Cointelegraph, confirming a Politico report on Tuesday
“I am grateful to the president for that opportunity and to the Senate Agriculture Committee for its consideration,” Quintenz added. “I look forward to returning to my private sector endeavors during this exciting time for innovation in our country.”
Quintenz, a former CFTC commissioner and head of crypto policy at a16z, was widely backed by the crypto industry, but his nomination faced delays in Congress and reported pushback from crypto exchange Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.
The White House has yet to officially announce the move at the time of publication, and it’s unclear why Quintenz’s nomination was withdrawn.
Quintenz, Winklevoss public spat over nomination
Quintenz had previously claimed that the Winklevoss brothers had interfered with his nomination, pressuring President Donald Trump to drop his pick.
Quintenz shared a series of private messages between himself and the Winklevosses on X last month, claiming Trump “might have been misled.”
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“I believe these texts make it clear what they were after from me, and what I refused to promise,” Quintenz said at the time. “It’s my understanding that after this exchange, they contacted the president and asked that my confirmation be paused for reasons other than what is reflected in these texts.”
The messages shared by Quintenz show the Winklevoss twins were unhappy with his response to discussing information about Gemini’s civil case with the CFTC, which the exchange settled for $5 million in January.
Some messages show the brothers pushing for “cultural reform” and ending “lawfare” against crypto firms by the CFTC moving forward. In response, Quintenz stated that he would address these issues if and when he was confirmed to lead the agency.
The CFTC has been without a full-fledged chair for almost a year now and is being led solely by Acting Chair Caroline Pham, who had said she would leave the agency upon Quintenz’s nomination.
CFTC could be key crypto regulator
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is currently making its way through Congress, which aims to clarify the roles of the CFTC, Securities and Exchange Commission and other financial agencies.
It aims to clearly define which crypto assets fall under the purview of each agency and would largely hand regulatory control over the crypto industry to the CFTC.
Sufficiently decentralized assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) will be defined as “digital commodities” under the regulatory scope of the CFTC.
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