Seven organizations affiliated with crypto urged a quick confirmation of Brian Quintenz to the CFTC, though nothing was scheduled on the Senate calendar before its recess. Several cryptocurrency and blockchain associations advocating for the industry are pushing for a “prompt confirmation” of Brian Quintenz as chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). In a Wednesday letter to US President Donald Trump, representatives from several crypto organizations reiterated their support for Quintenz’s confirmation in the Senate following the president’s nomination. Signatories included the Crypto Council for Innovation, Blockchain Association, Decentralization Research Center, DeFi Education Fund, The Digital Chamber, Satoshi Action Fund and Solana Policy Institute Read more
The CFTC is seeking feedback on how to more effectively regulate spot crypto trading as it moves to implement recommendations from the Trump administration. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has launched an initiative to enable the trading of “spot crypto asset contracts” on CFTC-registered futures exchanges. The invitation is part of the CFTC’s “crypto sprint” initiative to implement recommendations from President Donald Trump’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, which included 18 recommendations. “The CFTC is full speed ahead on enabling immediate trading of digital assets at the Federal level in coordination with the SEC’s Project Crypto,” wrote the CFTC’s Acting Chair Caroline Pham in a statement on Monday. Read more
A vote on prospective CFTC Chair Brian Quintenz was taken off the Senate Agriculture Committee’s agenda on Monday as the chamber heads into recess. The Senate Agriculture Committee has pulled a planned hearing on Brian Quintenz’s nomination to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), following a request from the White House just days before lawmakers leave for August recess. In an update to the committee’s schedule on Monday, chair John Boozman and ranking member Amy Klobuchar said lawmakers would not consider Brian Quintenz’s nomination to chair the CFTC. A spokesperson for the committee told Cointelegraph that consideration of Quintenz’s nomination was removed following a request from the White House. Cointelegraph reached out to the White House for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication. Read more
The Senate Agriculture Committee will hear from prospective CFTC chair Brian Quintenz, who could be the sole commissioner at the US regulator by the end of 2025. Brian Quintenz, US President Donald Trump’s pick to chair the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), is scheduled to appear before lawmakers as his nomination moves forward in the Senate. His role could expand significantly if current legislation shifting crypto oversight to the agency becomes law. The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a meeting to consider Quintenz’s nomination before a potential floor vote on Monday. The meeting will follow a hearing held by the committee in June, marking the first step in his nomination since Trump announced it in February. The committee meeting will come as the Senate is expected to consider the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act following passage in the House of Representatives on Thursday. Read more
With investigations from two major US agencies now reportedly closed, Polymarket has reached a critical regulatory milestone ahead of its $200 million funding round. The United States Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have reportedly closed their investigations into online betting platform Polymarket after several months. According to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, authorities ended investigations into Polymarket to investigate whether the platform was accepting trades from US-based users. The investigation reportedly ramped up after the 2024 US elections, when many Polymarket users were betting on the outcome of races. The company reached a $1.4 million settlement with the CFTC in 2022. Amid the reported investigations in November 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided the home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, confiscating his electronic devices. Read more
Gemini has accused the CFTC’s enforcement division of using a false whistleblower report to form its 2022 lawsuit against the crypto exchange. Gemini Trust claims it was a “selfish desire” by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s litigators to advance their careers that allowed “dubious” charges to be brought against the crypto exchange in 2022. In a letter on Friday to CFTC Inspector General Christopher Skinner, Gemini alleged the agency’s Division of Enforcement lawyers relied on a dodgy whistleblower report to sue the company. “DOE Staff selectively and unfairly weaponized the Commodity Exchange Act [....] to bring dubious false statements charges against Gemini,” lawyers for the exchange claimed. Read more
Senators questioned Brian Quintenz on prediction markets, his experiences dealing with debanking, and how he would potentially handle an entirely Republican-staffed CFTC. Brian Quintenz declined to say whether he supports maintaining a bipartisan balance at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during a Senate nomination hearing on Tuesday, avoiding a key question from lawmakers weighing his potential return as chair. Quintenz, a former commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and US President Donald Trump’s nominee to chair the agency, addressed several questions about his potential policy stance on crypto if confirmed as the new head of the agency. Senators Tina Smith of Minnesota and Raphael Warnock of Georgia pressed him about whether he would make recommendations to Trump in support of having both Democratic and Republican commissioners at the CFTC. Quintenz avoided a direct answer, steering the conversation toward his experience. Read more
Trump’s CFTC nominee Brian Quintenz says blockchain will reshape industries beyond finance and calls for clear crypto rules to protect US leadership. Brian Quintenz, US President Donald Trump’s nominee to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has said that blockchain is a foundational technology poised to transform much more than just finance. In prepared remarks ahead of his Senate confirmation hearing shared with Cointelegraph, Quintenz pointed out the long-term impact of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. “I view blockchain as a horizontal technology that has the potential to touch every aspect of society,” he said. Quintenz, who most recently served as the global head of policy at a16z Crypto (Andreessen Horowitz’s digital asset arm), also mentioned the importance of a comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto markets. Read more
New legislation in Washington would have the CFTC regulate crypto, but is it currently able to provide effective rulemaking? Representatives in Washington want the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to regulate crypto, but there are questions about whether the agency is up to the task. Last week, US Congressman French Hill released the first draft of the Clarity Act, a bill that would create a new category of asset, the “digital commodity.” It would allow qualified assets to trade relatively freely on the secondary market. It would also give the CFTC most of the authority to regulate cryptocurrency. The CFTC is empowered and governed by the Commodities Exchange Act (CEA), a sprawling law periodically modified by new legislation to amend and modernize it. Like the Securities and Exchange Commission and many other federal commissions, the CFTC comprises five commissioners, each of whom must be confirmed by the Senate. Read more
Roughly four months since his nomination and amid announced departures at the CFTC, Brian Quintenz’s nomination to head the financial regulator is moving forward. Brian Quintenz, a former commissioner on the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), may have the opportunity to chair the agency after his nomination by President Donald Trump moved to the Senate Agriculture Committee. According to the calendar of the US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Quintenz will appear for a hearing on June 10 to consider his nomination as CFTC chair. The nomination hearing follows the departures of commissioners Summer Mersinger and Christy Goldsmith Romero at the end of May, leaving the five-seat panel with only two Senate-confirmed members as of June 1. Quintenz’s potential confirmation is expected to result in a complete changeover of the CFTC’s leadership. Former chair Rostin Behnam left the agency in February, and, with the departures of Romero and Mersinger, only acting chair Caroline P...