Two key positions in US crypto watchdog are moving forward this week in the Senate as the chamber draws up a slate of dozens of nominees it will consider for confirmation at once, including Mike Selig to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Travis Hill to chair the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Tuesday began a process known as cloture, in which the Senate prepares for a vote to remove the 60-member threshold actions typically required there. His decision includes nominees for more than 80 federal positions (in some cases, like Selig’s, one person for two roles). The final cloture vote is expected as early as Thursday.
At a time when the CFTC is poised to take on a leadership role in crypto oversight, Selig is on deck to be confirmed for a commission post as well as the chairmanship. Because he would replace acting chairwoman Caroline Pham, who is expected to leave the agency when he arrives, he will be the sole member of a five-person commission, but the White House has not yet moved to offer any colleagues.
The U.S. derivatives regulator has already pursued a number of crypto policies, but if the Senate eventually completes its crypto market structure legislation, the agency will gain additional explicit authority over the crypto markets.
At the FDIC, which will regulate stablecoin issuers and has significant influence over how the crypto industry is bankrolled, Hill has already run the agency as acting chairman. In that role, he has taken a crypto-friendly stance.
“We have regretted the policy of the past few years,” he told lawmakers in a Dec. 2 House Financial Services Committee hearing, referring to a Biden administration era in which bank regulators told bankers they needed approval from government regulators before engaging in new crypto activity. “Banks are expected to manage security and solvency risk, but are otherwise not prohibited from serving these industries.”
Hill has also taken a leading role in addressing the crypto industry’s complaints about so-called “debanking,” where banks severed their relationships with crypto companies and their executives, a situation that industry insiders and many of their Republican lawmakers’ allies say was encouraged by regulatory politics.
