Key Takeaways
- The move follows the White House’s decision to withdraw the earlier nomination of Brian Quintenz
- Brian Quintenz’s nomination was stalled in July this year after Winklevoss asked Trump to halt the process
Reports have surfaced suggesting that U.S. President Donald Trump is set to nominate Michael Selig, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) crypto task force chief counsel, as the next chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This was reported by Bloomberg news, though an official announcement is still pending.
The move follows the White House’s decision to withdraw the earlier nomination of Brian Quintenz, marking a major shift in the administration’s approach to digital asset regulation.
Selig has been a central figure behind the SEC’s ongoing pro-crypto overhaul under the Trump administration’s second term. His elevation to lead the CFTC signals a stronger alignment between the two top financial regulators, as both agencies prepare to build a shared regulatory framework for crypto, tokenized assets, and prediction markets.
The appointment also represents a political victory for Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who have reportedly lobbied the administration to replace Quintenz. Brian Quintenz’s nomination was stalled in July this year after Winklevoss asked Trump to halt the process, while highlighting resentment at the former President Biden administration’s crackdown on his company.
The twins were openly critical of Quintenz’s stance on the CFTC’s 2022 lawsuit against Gemini and objected to his calls for expanding the agency’s budget to manage the growing oversight of digital assets, arguing that it could lead to “regulatory capture.” Their campaign ultimately led to Quintenz’s withdrawal from the nomination process.
As the CFTC faces one of the most transformative periods in its fifty-year history, Selig’s leadership is expected to shape how the agency approaches the rapidly evolving world of crypto derivatives, decentralized finance, and tokenized commodities. His nomination also comes amid a staffing vacuum — the CFTC currently operates under a single acting chair, Caroline Pham, with no other confirmed commissioners.
Although speculation has circulated about a potential merger between the SEC and CFTC, senior officials have dismissed the idea, clarifying that only Congress or the president could authorize such a consolidation.
Earlier this year, White House had put out a report that said the SEC should consider creating safe-harbors for digital assets and establish a “fit-for-purpose exemption from registration” for securities distributions, while granting the CFTC the authority to “regulate spot markets in non-security digital assets.” Both agencies have pledged to “harmonise” their efforts, with a joint statement released in September emphasizing a unified regulatory roadmap for the country’s crypto industry.
