Brain Quintenz, President Donald Trump's pick to take over the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that's anticipated to be the premiere U.S. crypto regulator, was halted in the confirmation process by the White House.
Quintenz was poised for a necessary sign-off from the Senate Agriculture Committee on Monday before he could get 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 emailed statement to CoinDesk. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, so its reasoning remains unclear, as does the potential for Quintenz continuing in the process.
The committee had been set to vote on the former CFTC commissioner's nomination Monday afternoon, but the last-minute change struck his advancement from consideration. After his committee vote had already been delayed from last week with even less notice, Quintenz is struggling to leap this first hurdle before the wider Senate confirmation decision.
By next week, the Senate will be dispersed on its August recess, leaving any hanging personnel approvals delayed by further weeks. That leaves the U.S. commodities agency in a tenuous position regarding what's already a delicate leadership situation at the CFTC.
Quintenz was meant to take over the agency just as Congress is weighing legislation that would elevate the CFTC to regulate the bulk of the U.S. crypto markets, including trading in bitcoin (BTC). Meanwhile, the regulator is helmed by Commissioner Caroline Pham, a Republican who Trump installed as acting chair. But she's planning to leave when her permanent replacement arrives, and her fellow Republicans have already left.
That means the remaining commissioner would be Democrat Kristin Johnson, who has also announced her intent to depart soon. If she goes before or shortly after the Republican chairman arrives, Quintenz — if confirmed — would be left as the sole member of the five-person commission.
President Trump has been waging a political battle throughout the executive-branch agencies by attempting to strip them of Democrats, despite rules in which the commissions are meant to be comprised of members of each of the two major parties. At the CFTC, circumstances are accomplishing that without intervention from Trump, though some agency observers wonder about the legal foundation for policy decisions if they're made by a one-person commission.
Still, a CFTC chairman needs to be confirmed first. Much of the rest of Trump's slate of financial regulators has been filled, including Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins.
While the House of Representatives recently passed the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act with a massive bipartisan vote, that bill to regulate the U.S. crypto markets (including assigning the CFTC as the new watchdog for the spot trading of digital assets that aren't securities), the Senate is working on its own version of that bill. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott set a Sept. 30 deadline to finish it, but the Senate Agriculture Committee also has to sign off, leaving Scott's rapid schedule in some uncertainty.
Read More: U.S. CFTC's Johnson Says She'll Also Exit, Leaving an Empty House for Incoming Chair
UPDATE (July 28, 2025, 23:17 UTC): Adds committee comment on White House request for delay.
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