In short
- Trump has appointed Mike Selig, chief adviser to the SEC Crypto Task Force, to lead the CFTC, signaling closer coordination on pro-crypto regulation, according to Bloomberg.
- The choice is a victory for Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who are pushing Trump to drop former nominee Brian Quintenz after clashes over Gemini’s past CFTC case and other issues.
- Selig would oversee policymaking in crypto and prediction markets at a critical time for the understaffed agency.
US President Donald Trump has selected Securities and Exchange official Michael Selig as his latest nominee to lead the CFTC, according to a release issued on Friday. Bloomberg report.
Selig currently serves as lead advisor to the SEC’s crypto task force and has been a key player behind the agency’s aggressive pro-crypto push. revision during the second Trump administration.
His choice to lead the CFTC is the clearest sign yet that the regulator will work closely with the SEC build together a pro-crypto regulatory framework.
It also marks a major political victory for Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the Focused on Trump crypto billionaire twins, who successfully lobbied the president to drop his previous choice to lead the CFTC, Andreessen Horowitz Global Head of Crypto Policy Brian Quintenz.
Custodia Bank and Vantage Bank Texas have unveiled a live tokenized deposit platform, expanding their previous pilot into a nationwide network for U.S. banks.
For months, the Winklevoss brothers persistently tried to derail Quintenz’s nomination, in part because of what they saw as his lack of sufficient outrage over the CFTC’s 2022 lawsuit against their crypto exchange, Gemini. The messy feud that eventually became audienceeventually led to the White House Pull Quintenz’s nomination.
The Winklevosses also protested Quintenz’s appointment due to the former CFTC commissioner’s suggestion that the relatively small CFTC should increase its budget to better handle the enormous new responsibilities that come with regulating the crypto market in particular. The twins argued That increasing the agency’s capabilities would lead to ‘regulatory capture’.
As head of the CFTC, Selig would also be responsible for leading the agency’s regulatory approach prediction markets– another new sector that has grown in popularity and become thorny legal questionssince its emergence last year.
Selig’s nomination comes at one of the most pivotal moments for the CFTC in its 50-year history, as the policies it sets out in the coming years will set the rules for two massive, emerging industries that are currently redefining the CFTC’s lucrative worlds. finance And gambling.
The agency is also severely short-staffed. The CFTC typically consists of a bipartisan group of five commissioners and currently operates under the leadership of a single Republican commissioner, acting chair Caroline Pham.
Daily debriefing Newsletter
Start every day with today’s top news stories, plus original articles, a podcast, videos and more.
