On February 12, President Donald Trump nominated Brian Quintenz to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This article profiles Quintenz as a nominee, surveys Pham’s initiatives as acting chair, and considers potential next steps for the CFTC pending Quintenz’s confirmation.
Quintenz is the current head of policy for venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) crypto fund. He served on the Crypto.com advisory council between 2021 and 2022. Quintenz was also a CFTC commissioner from 2017 to 2021. Prior to serving as a commissioner, Quintenz founded and managed an investment firm and served as a congressional aid. His writings and history may preview his thinking as the prospective CFTC chair.
In his final statement as a commissioner, Quintenz summarized his “service around three broad themes: ensuring the Commission is focused on risks, with rules appropriately tailored to those risks; embracing the rapid advancement of technology, opportunity, and innovation in finance; and working for enhanced coordination, harmonization, and deference among domestic and international regulators.” Quintenz’s contributions as commissioner reflected these themes. Shortly after his appointment, he sponsored the CFTC Technology Advisory Committee. In 2020, he approved rulemaking to exempt non-U.S. derivatives clearing organizations from registration to “avoid duplicative regulation.” Also in 2020, he approved rulemaking for new position limits on 25 physical commodity derivatives and economically equivalent swaps, resolving ongoing rulemaking on the subject since the Dodd-Frank Act was passed in 2010.
In December 2024, Quintenz co-authored an article for a16z detailing “a few of the things we’re excited about in crypto.” Quintenz identified “putting government bonds onchain.” Quintenz highlighted “pro-innovation governments” like the U.K. “already exploring digital securities through a sandbox at their financial regulatory body.”
In January, acting Chair Pham announced it was time for the CFTC to “get back to basics” with a focus on its “statutory mandate to promote responsible innovation and fair competition.” As a commissioner, Pham proposed a CFTC pilot program to serve as a “regulatory sandbox” for digital assets. Building on her proposal, this month Pham announced a “Crypto CEO Forum” to launch a pilot program for digital asset markets.
Pham also announced a consolidation of the Commission’s enforcement task forces to “refocus on fraud and helping victims” and “stop regulation by enforcement.” Pham noted the change will maximize resources “to bring more actions to pursue fraudsters and other bad actors, and not punish good citizens.”
The CFTC chair also represents the CFTC by person or proxy in the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets. The CFTC will play a role in identifying “all regulations, guidance documents, orders, or other items that affect the digital asset sector” and make responsive regulatory and legislative proposals.
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