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Deng Tong, Bitchain Vision
In February this year, former CFTC member Brian Quintenz officially became the candidate chairman of the CFTC.According to a May 27 Bloomberg report, Brian Quintenz disclosed his key positions in cryptocurrency and market companies, which are directly related to the CFTC’s regulatory priorities and disclose assets worth at least $3.4 million, according to a May 27 document released by the U.S. Government Ethics Office on May 25.
Who is Brian Quintenz?Which companies are they related to?What impact will CFTC have on the crypto industry in the future?
1. Brian Quintenz
Brian Quintenz is a U.S. financial manager and policy advisor and served as a member of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2017 to 2021.On February 11, 2025, President Trump nominated Quintenz as CFTC Chairman.
Quintenz worked as an advisor to Rose International early in his career and served as a senior assistant to Hill-Townsend Capital.
From 2001 to 2007, he worked for U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce, initially serving as an assistant and later promoted to senior policy consultant.
He has served as the head of Saeculum Capital Management, an investment company he founded in 2013.
In March 2016, Quintenz was nominated by Obama as a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
In early 2017, Trump withdrew Quintenz’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission nomination and then renominated him to complete the remainder of his five-year term, which expired on April 13, 2020.
Quintenz was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 3, 2017 and began serving on the committee on August 15.
2. What are the companies related to Quintenz?What does Quintenz need to do next?
Currently serves as the global head of cryptocurrency policy for Andreessen Horowitz.He said he would resign from the position if the Senate confirmed him as CFTC chair.Quintenz holds interests in three AH Capital Management Investment Funds, namely CNK Fund III, CNK Seed 1 Fund and CNK IV Fund, as well as capital commitments to the relevant general partners.These funds focus on investing in blockchain networks, blockchain-based storage and data retrieval systems, as well as smart contracts, blockchain applications and payment solutions.
After confirming the appointment, I will resign from my position at AH Capital Management.Due to my work at the company, I hold an unattended and vested affiliated interest in CNK Fund III, LP, CNK Seed 1 Fund, LP and CNK IV Fund, LP.AH Capital Management agrees to accelerate the attribution of my unattached ancillary interests in the above funds before I take office as Chairman.I will waive any accompanying interest that has not yet been absent on the day of my position as Chairman and divest all my accompanying interest in each fund before taking office as Chairman, otherwise I will waive that interest.I have confirmed that the peeling can be completed within the above period.
He is also a board member of Kalshi, a predictive market platform, owns the company’s shares and unattended stock options.Founded in July 2021, Kalshi Inc. is a U.S. financial trading and forecasting market headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City, offering event contracts.Retail investors and institutional traders can trade on a variety of future events, including economic indicators, weather patterns, awards, and political and legislative results.The company has launched a regulatory battle with the CFTC for its attempt to provide derivatives based on political events.Kalshi has also reached cooperation with major trading platforms such as Robinhood and Webull to launch event contracts to retail investors.
After confirming the appointment, I will resign from my position at KalshiEx.I hold shares of KalshiEx and monthly unaffiliated stock options and have no other equity interests.I will waive all unvased stock options at the time of resignation and divest all vested stock options and stocks as soon as possible (but no later than 90 days) upon confirmation of the appointment.
Quintenz also works at Next Level Derivatives.Next Level Derivatives is a market research company that provides liquidity solutions to the Treasury bond market.
After confirming the appointment, I will resign from my position at Next Level Derivatives LLC.I hold shares, profit interests and stock options that have been owned by the company and have no other equity interests.I will divest stock options and profit interests before taking office as chairman or else I will waive these interests and divest stocks as soon as possible (but no later than 90 days) after confirmation of the appointment.
3. What efforts did Quintenz make when he served as a member of the CFTC in the first Trump administration?
Law Enforcement Affairs
During his tenure as a member, Quintenz supported law enforcement matters and held market participants responsible for clear violations of the Commodity Trading Act and the CFTC provisions.His past statements focus on fairness and ensure that entities “do not circumvent these rules and harm the interests of U.S. customers and law-abiding market participants.”During his tenure as a member, Quintenz was often committed to promoting innovation and advised the CFTC not to take measures that could hinder institutions from developing new products or services or participating in marketing activities.“I prefer to be involved rather than law enforcement – but if I don’t participate, law enforcement is our only option,” he said in a 2018 speech.
Supervision method
Quintenz’s perception of rulemaking during his tenure as commissioner emphasized a “principle-based” approach, and he had previously said he preferred industry-driven solutions rather than prescriptive regulatory requirements.
For example, in his first public speech since serving as a CFTC committee member in 2017, Quintenz criticized the agency’s proposal to regulate automatic transactions at the time (“Reg AT”) as “forming improper and flawed public policy.”He advocates that more research be conducted on the specific risks present in automated trading and the control measures already taken to address these risks before proposing extensive rules.The Commission later withdrew Reg AT completely, in favor of and eventually adopted a more limited “principle of risk for electronic transactions.”Quintenz supports the move, believing it has taken a principle-based approach rather than the “extremely normative requirements” of Reg AT.
Quintenz also supports the development of regulatory regulations that ensure market stability and promote innovation.This view is reflected in two areas that the Commission has been focusing on: (1) cryptocurrency and digital asset regulation; and (2) event contracts.
During his tenure at the CFTC, Quintenz was committed to promoting coordination between the CFTC and the SEC.As a member, he worked with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce to coordinate and unify the regulatory provisions of the SEC and CFTC that affect entities that simultaneously register as swap traders/securities swap traders, brokerage proprietors/futures commissioners, and commodity pool operators/investment funds.
Digital Assets
Quintenz sponsored the CFTC’s Technical Advisory Committee during the launch of the first Bitcoin futures contracts, and during his tenure, the committee oversees “the custody of digital assets within traditional clearing infrastructure, the popularity of blockchain technology, and the creation of crypto-tokenized commodities” and discusses other topics related to digital assets.
Event contract
Regarding event contracts, Quintenz criticized the practice of banning certain event contracts in a total absence of specific public interest determinations.In December 2020, ErisX submitted a self-certification proof that certain NFL event contracts comply with the Commodity Exchange Act’s requirements for listing in the Registered Designated Contract Market (DCM).In opposing the CFTC’s order to dismiss these contracts, Quintenz opposed the practice of explicitly banning the “game”, believing it was against the public interest and advocated a more precise regulatory approach.He also believes that this broad ban contradicts the statutory requirement and disagrees with his belief that the registrant (ErisX) needs to prove that the NFL event contract has a hedge function (and therefore in the public interest).
This issue has once again become the focus of the committee, as multiple contract markets have listed contracts related to sporting events, election results and other novel event contract applications.
Swap trader supervision/swap market supervision
Quintenz stressed that the Dodd-Frank Act’s policy objectives regarding swap traders registration include reducing systemic risks, protecting counterparties and improving market efficiency.He noted that any adjustment to the minimum threshold for swap traders registration should be consistent with these goals, especially to ensure that regulations can effectively respond to expected risks without causing unnecessary burdens.
Based on this view, Quintenz criticized the use of nominal total value as an indicator to determine the minimum threshold for swap traders, arguing that the figure does not measure the level of traders’ activity well, and suggested that the CFTC should consider indicators that are more representative of the impact of the physical market rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.Quintenz also advocates excluding liquidation swaps from the minimum threshold calculation, because from his point of view, most swap trading activity will still be below the $8 billion threshold.He also advocates review and adjust required swap dealers’ business conduct standards requirements, including certain disclosure obligations.
During his tenure as Commissioner, Quintenz supported flexibility in the way Strategic Foundation was implemented.He also expressed support for the coordination of Straits Foundation regulations with international standards.
“U.S. First” Market Policy
This view is consistent with Quintenz’s overall idea of international regulatory coordination.During his tenure as a member, Quintenz advocated cross-border respect and encouraged home country regulators to serve as the main focal point for market participants.However, Quintenz firmly defends the U.S. market from foreign regulatory intervention, especially the EU.He stressed the importance of maintaining trust in international regulatory relations, and particularly the possibility of negative impacts on U.S. market participants in legislation abroad.
4. What impact will CFTC have on the crypto industry?
The crypto industry has long pushed the CFTC as a major regulator, while also demanding that the U.S. develop a clearer regulatory framework.Therefore, CFTC under Quintenz may have a profound impact on the crypto industry.
Christy Goldsmith Romero, a member of the outgoing Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said: In the future, the CFTC should be committed to defining retail customers to ensure that new investment inflows of “cryptocurrencies and some other products” have a retail customer protection system similar to the SEC.
WilmerHale futures and derivatives business members had a look at the beginning of the year: Whether it is cryptocurrencies, individual stock futures, over-the-counter derivatives or artificial intelligence, we expect the CFTC to coordinate with other U.S. institutions, especially the Securities and Exchange Commission.The CFTC will also maintain a key role with the Financial Stability Oversight Committee (FSO), which often serves as a hub for policy development in the area of government financial services.
Source: Bitchain Vision, US Government Ethics Office, Wikipedia, CoinTelegraph, WilmerHale, Koehler Group, Yogonet, etc.
