Brain Quintenz, President Donald Trump’s election to take over the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is expected to be the leading US crypto regulator, was stopped in the confirmation process by the White House.
Quintenz was ready for a necessary unsubscribe from the Senate Agricultural Committee on Monday before he could have a confirmation vote in the wider Senate, but the administration stepped in, which was the second time his process was delayed since last week.
“The White House asked the committee to delay the vote,” the committee’s staff said in an E -mail declaration to Coindesk. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, so its reasoning remains unclear, just as the potential for Quintenz continues in the process.
The committee was set to vote on the former CFTC Commissioner’s nomination on Monday afternoon, but change at the last minute hit his progress from consideration. After his committee vote had already been delayed from last week with even less notice, Quintenz is fighting this first obstacle to the wider confirmation decision.
Next week, the Senate is spreading in its recesses in August, leaving all hanging staff approvals delayed for another weeks. That leaves the American commodity agency in an exciting position on what is already a delicate management situation at CFTC.
Quintenz was intended to take over the agency, just as Congress weighs legislation that would raise CFTC to regulate most of the US crypto markets, including trade in Bitcoin (BTC). Meanwhile, the regulator is aided by Commissioner Caroline Pham, a Republican who Trump installed as acting chairman. But she plans to leave when her permanent replacement arrives and her co -Republicans are already back.
This means that the remaining commissioner would be Democrat Kristin Johnson, who has also announced his intention to travel soon. If she goes before or shortly after the Republican President arrives, Quintenz-if you would be confirmed to be left as the only member of the Five-person Commission.
President Trump has led a political battle throughout the executive branch agencies by trying to strip them from Democrats, despite rules where the commissions are intended to consist of members of each of the two major parties. At CFTC, the circumstances are achieved without the intervention of Trump, although some agency observers are wondering about the legal foundation of political decisions if made by a one-person commission.
Still, a CFTC chairman must first be confirmed. Much of the rest of Trump’s slate of financial regulators has been completed, including chairman of securities and exchange commission Paul Atkins.
While the House of Representatives recently passed the digital asset market clarity law with a massive bipartisan vote, this bill to regulate the US crypto markets (including assigning CFTC as the new watchdog to spot trading with digital assets that are not securities), the Senate is working on its own version of this bill. Senate’s bank committee chairman Tim Scott set a deadline of September 30 to end it, but the Senate Agricultural Committee must also sign, leaving Scott’s quick schedule in some uncertainty.
Read more: US CFTC’s Johnson says she will also quit and leave an empty house for incoming chair
Update (July 28, 2025, 23:17 UTC): Adds committee commentary to request for delay the White House on Delay.
