US President Donald Trump is nominating Brian Quintenz, currently the global head of policy at a16z, to head up the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), suggesting the blockchain industry is well-positioned to get its way in Washington. Quintenz will face a hearing in the Senate and a vote for approval; if chosen, he will replace Rostin Benham as head of the commission. The investment fund executive has previous experience with the CFTC, serving as a Republican commissioner from August 2017 to September 2021. Quintenz would bring an unequivocally pro-crypto perspective. In a post on X following his reported nomination, Quintenz said, “The agency is also well poised to ensure the USA leads the world in blockchain technology and innovation.”
Quintenz moves from CFTC to Kalshi
Under Quintenz’s leadership, with his experience in what some have criticized as the “revolving door” between crypto and government, the blockchain industry appears front of mind. The revolving door refers to the tendency for former federal officials to go directly into positions as lobbyists, consultants, or strategists “just as the door pulls former hired guns into government careers,” according to Open Secrets. This transfer of influence from the industry to the government and vice versa is not limited to the cryptocurrency industry — but the blockchain lobby has come under particular scrutiny in recent years by watchdogs tracking this phenomenon. Quintenz, whose experience straddles the public and private spheres, has himself walked through the revolving door. He started his political career as a policy adviser under Member of Congress Deborah Pryce. He later moved into finance as a buy-side analyst at Hill-Townsend Capital and managing principal at Saeculum Capital Management. In 2016, former US President Barack Obama nominated him as a CFTC commissioner, and he was confirmed in 2017 under the first Trump administration.
Quintenz, who ran the agency’s Technology Committee, gave presentations on decentralized finance, Bitcoin (BTC) in spot markets, and other crypto-related topics, according to The Economist. “I developed a reputation as being…an advocate of innovation,” he told the publication. According to Timi Iwayemi, research director at the Revolving Door Project, Quintenz would also push for the CFTC to approve Kalshi’s application as the first exchange to trade event contracts. Kalshi, which allows investors to bet on the outcome of real-world events like elections, was criticized roundly by some as a doorway to corruption and undue influence. Proponents would cast it as a means of uncensored “price” discovery — a way to predict outcomes and find public sentiment without censorship. Quintenz stepped down from the CFTC in August 2021. In November, Quintenz joined Kalshi’s board, telling Bloomberg, “This is a free-market based pricing mechanism that serves as a check on both disinformation and on the political censorship of unpopular views.”
He also joined crypto-friendly venture capital firm a16z, first as an advisory partner, then as head of crypto policy in December 2022. At the time, general partner at the firm Katie Haun wrote that “crypto regulation has come to the forefront of the national debate” and that “regulatory concerns are top-of-mind.” Haun said that Quintenz’s government experience and understanding of “both how crypto technology works and how the CFTC thinks about the issue” would help put a “support system in place when it comes to policy and regulatory matters.”
Crypto industry and “regulatory capture”
The 2024 federal elections in the United States saw an unprecedented amount of support from crypto industry groups, which collectively spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars on lobbying efforts. As a result, the industry has unprecedented support among American lawmakers and amid nominees to key positions who are tapped by the “crypto president,” Donald Trump. With Quintenz set to become CFTC chair, some in the industry are already taking a victory lap. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted on X as if the nomination were a foregone conclusion:
Others, like National Venture Capital Association CEO Bobby Franklin, claim Quintenz will deliver a much-needed regulatory framework: “We sit at a pivotal moment for emerging blockchain technologies — entrepreneurs and VCs alike are hungry for a reliable framework that lays out clear rules of the road.” With these critical nominations and a crypto legal framework in the works, Armstrong looks forward to increased investment in crypto. “The Trump effect cannot be denied. To have the leader of the largest GDP country in the world come out undeniably and say that he wants to be the first crypto president […] This is unprecedented,” Armstrong said at a Davos panel on Jan. 21. But while the crypto industry does yet another victory lap, not everyone is convinced that these efforts and the revolving door that supports them are for the greater good. At the same panel in Davos, Lesetja Kganyago, governor of the South African Reserve Bank, claimed that the crypto industry was attempting regulatory capture — co-opting government to serve the commercial and ideological interests of one industry.
Kganyago said, “What we need is a society that frames conversations about how policies should evolve such that regulations are clear for everyone across industries. If regulations are to be established through the power of money, then we have a problem.” The crypto voter and efforts within Congress should not be discounted, countered Armstrong. Rather than regulatory capture, “it’s just bipartisan legislation. You know, you still have to get bipartisan legislation passed. […] And so the crypto voter is real. That’s democracy working.” The senators representing these crypto voters will make their will known as to whether Quintenz will lead the CFTC when he faces the Senate Agricultural Committee in the coming weeks.