Brian Quintenz, a former CFTC commissioner, is expected to rejoin the agency after his selection by President Donald Trump, according to several media reports citing a White House document from Tuesday.
Quintenz’s tenure as Chairman and Commissioner will end on April 13, 2029, following rumors in December that Trump was considering Quintenz among other candidates. Meanwhile, Rostin Behnam will take over as Vice Chair, succeeding Christy Goldsmith Romero.
Quintenz, who currently heads crypto policy at the crypto arm of venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), previously served as a Republican commissioner at the CFTC from 2017 to 2021.
His nomination could signal a pivot toward more crypto-friendly oversight of the $400 trillion derivatives market alongside other recent picks, including Treasurer Scott Bessent.
A16z crypto, the venture capital firm’s crypto arm, has active investments in a portfolio that includes Solana, Uniswap, Story, Lido, Optimism, Farcaster, and EigenLayer, among others.
During his previous CFTC tenure, Quintenz emerged as one of crypto’s strongest advocates in Washington, often drawing comparisons to SEC Commissioner Hester “Crypto Mom” Peirce for his pro-innovation stance.
In 2022, Decrypt interviewed Quintenz, where he spoke about the “regulatory landgrab” between the SEC and CFTC at the time.
“Some of those things are true, but if you have well-tailored, appropriately calibrated regulation, the ultimate result could be large liquid markets with very strong integrity that become global access points for risk management, hedging opportunities, and price discovery,” Quintenz said at the time.
The selection comes amid broader moves by the Trump administration to reshape crypto regulation.
Trump’s newly appointed AI and Crypto Czar, David Sacks, has shared plans to work with Congress on new “market structure” legislation that would benefit the industry.
“I think there’s a pretty good chance we can get this done in the next six months,” Sacks said on an “All-In” podcast.
The crypto industry has long pushed for CFTC jurisdiction instead of SEC oversight, viewing the derivatives regulator as more amenable to digital asset innovation.
A16z did not immediately respond to requests for comment about Quintenz’s nomination.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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