President Donald Trump has nominated Mike Selig, chief counsel to the SEC's crypto task force, to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The nomination follows the withdrawal of previous candidate Brian Quintenz and comes amid a staffing shortage at the agency. Selig pledged to promote innovation and position the US as the crypto capital of the world.
President Donald Trump nominated cryptocurrency regulator Mike Selig to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Saturday, as confirmed by Selig in a post on social media platform X. Selig currently serves as chief counsel to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto task force, which launched in January to provide regulatory clarity for digital assets.
The nomination arrives after the Trump administration withdrew the bid of Brian Quintenz, a former CFTC commissioner from 2017 to 2021 and recent head of crypto policy at Andreessen Horowitz. Quintenz claimed that Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss influenced Trump against him due to prior CFTC actions against their exchange.
If confirmed, Selig would become the CFTC’s 16th chair, succeeding acting chair Caroline Pham, who is now the agency’s sole commissioner following recent departures. Democrat Christy Goldsmith Romero retired in May, Republican Summer Mersinger left the same month to lead the Blockchain Association, and Democrat Kristin Johnson departed in September. Pham had planned to leave once Quintenz was confirmed, but his withdrawal has kept her in the role.
In his X post, Selig stated: “With the President’s leadership, a Great Golden Age for America’s Financial Markets and a Wealth of New Opportunities stand before us. I pledge to work tirelessly to facilitate Well-Functioning Commodity Markets, promote Freedom, Competition and Innovation, and help the President make the United States the Crypto Capital of the World.”
David Sacks, chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, endorsed Selig on X, noting his knowledge of financial markets and experience from prior roles at the CFTC under former Chairman Chris Giancarlo in 2014 and 2015, as well as stints at law firms including Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft; Reed Smith; Perkins Coie; and Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Selig joined the SEC crypto task force in March.
Support came from the crypto industry. Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Hun Kim praised Selig’s “deep regulatory experience and informed approach to financial innovation,” adding that his confirmation would ensure “clarity, stability, and global competitiveness for U.S. markets.” Chris Dixon, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz’s a16zcrypto, called the timing crucial for market structure legislation. SEC Chair Paul Atkins echoed Sacks’ praise on X.
Earlier this year, the CFTC initiated a crypto sprint in collaboration with the SEC’s Project Crypto.