Brian Quintenz intends to resign from the board of prediction markets operator Kalshi if he is confirmed as the new chair of the federal derivatives regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Quintenz is President Donald Trump’s nominated choice to take over as the CFTC’s chief.
In a letter to the CFTC’s Office of the General Counsel’s John Einstman, Quintenz confirmed he would step down from his board role at Kalshi upon taking up the CTFC leadership.
Quintenz also divulged in the public ethics agreement that, while he holds stock and unvested stock options in Kalshi, he does not possess any other equity interest in Kalshi. He would forfeit all stock options that remain unvested at the time of his resignation and would divest any stock and unvested stock options not later than 90 days after his CFTC confirmation.
In addition, he vowed not to participate “personally and substantially” in any matter involving Kalshi as a party or representative of a party for one year after his resignation from the company, unless he was first authorized to do so. As such, he would recuse himself from proceedings involving Kalshi to avoid a potential conflict of interest.
Quintenz has been on the board of Kalshi since 2021, and was also an advisor to Crypto.com from 2021-22. Like Kalshi, Crypto.com currently offers sports event contract trading. Quintenz was previously a commissioner of the CFTC from 2017 until August 2021.
As well as his communication with Einstman this week, Quintenz also disclosed at least $3.4 million in assets tied to the crypto industry, according to Office of Government Ethics documents.
CFTC down to bare bones on commissioners
Quintenz’s public disclosure and his potential appointment as the commission’s new head comes amid an exodus of commissioners.
Since Trump took office, four CFTC commissioners have announced they are leaving the organization by the end of 2025.
One of those departees, Christy Goldsmith Romero, said this week that the wholesale change of leadership is “not a great situation” for the federal regulator.
“I think it’s not a great situation if you have one person who’s determining what the rules should be,” she said, per CoinTelegraph. “You lose the benefit of this back-and-forth, this push-and-pull as to what’s the right thing to do. I’ve always wanted to hear from my fellow commissioners about what makes sense to them, and there are many things that they’ve convinced me of and many things that I’ve convinced them of, so I think it does a disservice to regulation.”
Goldsmith Romero’s last day is May 31 and another commissioner, Summer Mersinger, is leaving on May 30 to join the Blockchain Association as CEO. Acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham said this month she plans to take up a role in the private sector if Quintenz is confirmed. Goldsmith Romero’s fellow Democrat, Kristin Johnson, has announced she intends to leave the CFTC before 2026.
The CFTC is supposed to be made up of five commissioners. As it stands, were he to be confirmed in the next few months, he and Johnson would be the only two commissioners.
Meanwhile, Mersinger said this week that the CFTC is prepared to authorize perpetual futures contracts, which allow investment in a position that continues indefinitely, unlike sporting or political event contracts which have a fixed end date or term.
Mersinger added that Quintenz is “a very strong incoming chairman who has a great voice for the crypto industry and will be a real advocate for the industry and the agency.”
