Brian Quintenz Emerges as Leading Candidate for CFTC Chair

Brian Quintenz, the Director of Policy at a16z Crypto, has emerged as the leading candidate for the position of Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), according to Bloomberg.

The candidate has already undergone an interview, the agency noted, citing informed sources.

Quintenz joined the cryptocurrency division of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) in 2021 as a senior advisor.

Prior to this, he served as a CFTC commissioner from August 2017, where he was noted for his crypto-friendly policies.

During his tenure at the agency, Quintenz oversaw the listing of bitcoin futures, the custody of cryptocurrencies within traditional clearing infrastructure, the creation of tokenized commodities, and the development of DeFi. 

In October 2022, he criticized the approach of the SEC to regulating the crypto industry, calling it a threat to innovation.

In November, it was revealed that the administration of President-elect Donald Trump intended to grant the CFTC control over part of the crypto market. The feasibility of this was previously acknowledged by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. However, he still considers most digital assets to be securities.

Back in January, Trump nominated bitcoin advocate and former agency commissioner Paul Atkins to replace Gensler, who was stepping down on January 20.