The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is poised to become a primary market regulator for cryptocurrencies and businesses if the legislation waits before Congress becomes law. And at the beginning of the year, former CFTC commissioner and Andreessen Horowitz crypto policy chief Brian Quintenz appeared to take charge of that agency, putting the pro-crypto politician in charge of writing regulations long sought by the crypto industry — that is, until the committee abruptly announced it would delay voting on his nomination, twice, without Trump eventually asking to hold the presidential nomination, without Trump saying the White House finally said no. further explanation.
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Gemini (GEMI) co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss took credit for stalling and ultimately sinking Quintenz’s nomination, indicating how much influence billionaire crypto bosses and prominent Trump donors can wield within the current administration while derailing the confirmation process for a regulator that much of the rest of the crypto industry wanted to see installed.
“Many in our industry have significant concerns about this nomination,” Tyler Winklevoss told CoinDesk in August, shortly after the confirmation votes were postponed. “Mr. Quintenz is not aligned with the President’s stated agenda and goals.”
Quintenz, for his part, kept largely quiet about the turmoil surrounding his nomination until September, when he released messages he had exchanged with Winklevoss, in which Winklevoss appeared to ask Quintenz to take a firm stand on how the CFTC handled a case against Gemini that was settled in January 2025.
“I think these texts make it clear what they were after from me,” Quintenz said in a social media post, adding that he believed Winklevoss’ communications with the president misled Trump.
“I know we had talked about it this winter, when I remembered my original extreme disappointment [the Enforcement Division] for pursuing this so aggressively,” Quintenz said in one of the posted messages. “I commit you to have a fair and reasonable review of the case and the divisions and individuals involved to determine whether they acted inappropriately.”
Despite his push, the White House withdrew his nomination a few weeks later.
