Thursday the Senate batch-confirmed almost 50 government roles with a single vote.
The bloc vote came about as a result of a vote last week to change chamber rules to allow for multiple nominees to be included in a single vote. The Republicans pushed for the controversial change in response to the growing backlog of President Donald Trump’s nominees awaiting confirmation to take office.
However, one name not included in the 48 people confirmed is Brian Quintenz, Trump’s nominee to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). There was a push to get Quintenz through to the Senate floor to vote on him prior to the summer recess, but those efforts were delayed multiple times.
The first delay came when the Republicans on the Senate Committee Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry pushed the vote after Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith’s delayed flight meant there would not be enough GOP party members present to get the vote through.
The second delay lacked a clear explanation, but political and tech blogs speculate it is because there has been pushback from people like Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss suggesting that Quintenz’s stance on crypto was too conservative.
Now, Bloomberg is reporting that the White House is considering other potential candidates for the role.
The report comes after Quintenz took to his own social media to post private conversations with Tyler Winklevoss about his appointment and a pending $5 million settlement between the CFTC and Gemini, a crypto company owned by the Winklevoss brothers.
Many in the crypto space argued Quintenz wasn’t open-minded enough, but a long list of opponents to his nomination include several gaming groups such as the American Gaming Association. In numerous public communications the AGA has expressed concern that Quintenz’s current role on the Kalshi board and comments he had made about the emerging vertical of sports-related event contracts could jeopardize the gaming industry at a national level.
Quintenz has been very open to the idea of exchanges offering sports contracts, while the regulated gaming industry is currently addressing this issue in court in six different states, contending that the prodcut is equivalent to online sports betting.
Currently, acting chair Caroline Pham is the only commissioner serving with the CFTC. The group is supposed to be overseen by a five-member bipartisan group of commissioners, but with numerous departures and no replacements, it is now a one-woman show.
