- Trump’s team is considering six candidates to chair the CFTC.
- The current chair announced that he will step down on inauguration day.
- Trump has the chance to appoint a crypto-friendly regulatory head.
President-elect Donald Trump has another opportunity to please his crypto supporters by choosing an industry-friendly chair of a major regulator.
He picked crypto-friendly lawyer Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Now, the focus turns to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The current CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam will step down on January 20 ― the day Trump takes office for a second term.
Behnam wasn’t as vilified by US crypto bigwigs as was his SEC counterpart Gary Gensler.
Still, under his stewardship, the CFTC sued numerous crypto companies including Binance and Sam Bankman-Fried’s now-defunct crypto exchange FTX. The Binance lawsuit resulted in a $4.3 billion settlement.
Trump’s transition team is considering six candidates for the role, according to a report by Fox Business.
Those under consideration include a former CFTC commissioner, a serving commissioner, and three other lawyers.
Brian Quintenz
Quintenz heads crypto policy at Silicon Valley venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz. Before a16z, Quintenz served as one of the Republican CFTC commissioners from 2017 to 2021.
Quintenz is considered a top contender for the job and is seen as someone who can balance innovation and oversight given his experience on both sides of the regulatory divide.
Caroline Pham
Pham is the other candidate with CFTC experience. She has been serving as a CFTC Commissioner since April 2022 and is a frontrunner to head the agency on an interim basis.
Pham has previously criticised the absence of clear jurisdictional boundaries between the CFTC and SEC in crypto regulatory matters.
Marco Santori
Kraken’s chief legal officer Marco Santori is also another candidate up for consideration. Kraken is among the many US crypto companies that faced enforcement action from the CFTC.
Santori has previously testified before the US Congress in 2023 where he pushed for effective crypto regulations.
Neal Kumar
The Trump transition team is also considering Neal Kumar and Josh Sterling, according to Reuters.
Kumar is a partner at law firm Willkie Farr and Gallagher. He specialises in commodities and derivatives law and has been critical of President Joe Biden’s administration’s approach to crypto regulations.
Josh Sterling
Sterling is another CFTC alum. He is currently a partner at Milbank law firm where he focuses on derivatives litigation and arbitration.
Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? please contact him at osato@dlnews.com.