Trump’s CFTC pick Michael Selig heads to a Senate vote as the agency scraps “actual delivery” rules, greenlights crypto on futures exchanges and tests RWA collateral.
Summary
- Michael Selig, Trump’s nominee to lead the CFTC, faces a full vote in the Senate after a narrow approval by the committee, promising to make the US the “Crypto Capital of the World.”
- The CFTC removed its 2020 “actual delivery” guidelines, folded Bitcoin, Ethereum and others back into a technology-neutral regime and allowed spot cryptocurrency trading on long-regulated futures platforms.
- A new pilot will let Bitcoin, Ether, USDC and tokenized Treasuries serve as collateral under tight reporting, as the agency grapples with a hollowed-out commission and awaits reauthorization.
Michael Selig, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will face a full confirmation vote in the Senate as soon as this afternoon, following a 12-11 approval by the party-line committee last month, according to congressional sources.
CFTC top choice in risk-weighted assets
The vote comes as the CFTC prepares to pass extensive authority over digital asset markets while operating with just one sitting commissioner since September, creating what observers have described as serious leadership constraints.
Selig’s confirmation hearing in November raised questions from senators about whether the agency’s 543 employees can manage the expanded cryptocurrency oversight responsibilities that Congress is preparing to assign through pending legislation, including the CLARITY Act, according to transcripts of the hearing.
The nominee, currently chief counsel to the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, stated at his confirmation hearing that he would help make America “the crypto capital of the world” while building regulatory structures that support developer innovation and enforce traditional market safeguards on new exchanges.
Acting Chair Caroline Pham announced Tuesday that the agency is withdrawing its 2020 “actual delivery” guidelines for virtual currencies, eliminating compliance requirements that include a 28-day asset holding standard. The framework had classified digital assets as a separate regulatory category from traditional commodities.
The withdrawal allows Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and other digital assets to fall under the CFTC’s overall technology-neutral framework, reducing compliance requirements for exchanges looking to offer new products, the agency’s statement said.
The change follows the agency’s recent approval of spot crypto trading on federally regulated futures exchanges for the first time, bringing the direct buying and selling of digital assets to platforms that have operated under federal standards for nearly a century.
The CFTC is advancing its Crypto Sprint initiative through a Dec. 8 pilot program authorizing Bitcoin, Ether and USDC as collateral in the derivatives markets, agency filings show. The three-month program requires futures commission traders to file weekly holdings reports, giving regulators real-time insight into the performance of tokenized assets under supervisory conditions.
The agency also issued guidance stating that tokenized real-world assets, such as U.S. Treasury securities and money market funds, can be evaluated within existing regulatory frameworks. It provided relief without action for companies seeking to accept certain non-securities digital assets as customer margins, addressing custody, segregation, valuation and operational risks.
Selig’s nomination follows Trump’s withdrawal of his original pick, former CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz, whose candidacy ended in September amid opposition from Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, according to published reports.
The White House vetted several alternatives, including former CFTC official Josh Sterling and Treasury Department adviser Tyler Williams, before selecting Selig, who previously advised blockchain clients in private practice and worked on digital asset policy under former CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The agency has been operating with reduced leadership since January, when Chairman Rostin Behnam resigned after overseeing major enforcement actions, including the $4.3 billion Binance settlement. Commissioner Kristin Johnson left in September, while Caroline Pham announced plans to join MoonPay once a successor is confirmed, leaving the commission with five seats with minimal staffing.
The leadership gap has delayed policy coordination with Congress on legislation that would give the CFTC primary oversight of spot crypto markets within the framework outlined in the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets report, regulatory analysts said.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson told lawmakers he anticipates the Senate confirmation vote and plans to invite Selig early next year to discuss his agenda for the agency’s first reauthorization in more than a decade, according to a committee statement.
