Biden Nominates Quintenz to Lead Commodity Futures Trading Commission

President Joe Biden intends to appoint Brian Quintenz, a former Republican commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to lead the agency once again.

Quintenz has been an advocate for regulatory changes that would benefit digital-asset firms and other new technologies and financial products. If confirmed, he is expected to push for changes that could help the CFTC become the preferred regulator for cryptocurrencies.

Quintenz previously served as head of policy at Andreessen Horowitz's a16z crypto arm. He was a CFTC commissioner during the first Trump administration before joining the venture capital firm.

The CFTC is the primary U.S. watchdog for the roughly $400 trillion swaps market and other derivatives.

Along with Quintenz's nomination, Biden also intends to nominate Jonathan Gould as Comptroller of the Currency and Jonathan McKernan as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The nominations require confirmation by the Senate.