Brian Quintenz, the candidate nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will appear in front of the Senate Agriculture Committee on 10 June.
The independent agency committee, which oversees commodities and futures regulation, will use the hearing to review Quintenz’s bid to chair the CFTC, four months after he was put forward by President Trump.
Quintenz previously served as a commissioner for the US derivatives market regulator between August 2017 and September 2021, though much of his work since his departure from the CFTC has been at exchange and prediction market platform Kalshi, where he has served as a board member for just shy of four years.
He also spent 13 months as an advisory council member to cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com.
Both Kalshi and Crypto.com have courted controversy for much of 2025, with the two companies rolling out sports event contracts as a product, which allows any user aged 18 and over in all 50 US states to trade contracts based on their respective predictions on the outcomes of certain sporting fixtures.
Many state-level regulators have argued the product effectively serves as unauthorised sports betting, but Kalshi has steadfastly retorted that the derivatives market is regulated at federal level by the CFTC and therefore state regulators do not possess the power to prevent the offering of such contracts.
That stance is expected to be supported by Quintenz if appointed, given the former CFTC commissioner’s previous ties to both Kalshi and Crypto.com, as well as previously endorsing the idea of lighter regulation for cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
Since December 2022, Quintenz has served as the head of policy for Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto-focused venture arm a16z Crypto, which he insisted should be left to the CFTC, not the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to oversee the regulation of cryptocurrencies.
If Quintenz does succeed acting chair Caroline D Pham, who has been in the hot seat since Rostin Behnam departed in February, he has vowed to step down from his role on Kalshi’s board of directors.
In a letter to the chief legal advisor for the CFTC, addressed to deputy general counsel John Einstman, Quintenz made clear he would avoid any conflicts of interest should he be appointed to the role.
“Upon confirmation, I will resign from my position with KalshiEx,” Quintenz wrote. “I hold stock and unvested stock options, which vest on a monthly basis, with KalshiEx. I do not hold any other equity interest in KalshiEx.
“I will forfeit all KalshiEx stock options that are unvested at the time of my resignation. I will divest any vested stock options and stock in KalshiEx as soon as practicable, but not later than 90 days after my confirmation.
“If I divest the stock options by exercising them, I will divest the resulting stock as soon as practicable but not later than 90 days after my confirmation. I will not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter that to my knowledge has a direct and predictable effect on the financial interests of this entity until I have divested it.”
Should Quintenz receive Senate approval to become the new chair, he would be the only sitting commissioner to be named by Trump, though with more departures from within the CFTC expected, the president could have scope to name four new commissioners.
The post Senate confirms hearing date for Trump-backed CFTC chair nominee first appeared on EGR Intel.
Brian Quintenz’s efforts to become the new chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will see him face the Senate Agriculture Committee next week
The post Senate confirms hearing date for Trump-backed CFTC chair nominee first appeared on EGR Intel.