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The Trump administration is considering alternative Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chair candidates after Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss lobbied against Brian Quintenz’s nomination.
That’s according to a Bloomberg report that cited sources saying those under consideration include Michael Selig, chief counsel to the SEC’s crypto task force; Tyler Williams, Treasury counselor on digital asset policy; Summer Mersinger, current CFTC Commissioner; and Marco Santori, Kraken’s Chief Legal Officer.
Quintenz’s confirmation has stalled since February, leaving the agency with only one commissioner, Caroline Pham, serving as acting chair.
Winklevoss Twins Block Quintenz’s Path To CFTC Chair
Early this month, Quintenz publicly accused the Winklevoss twins of undermining his nomination and said they may have misled Trump in the process.
Quintenz, a former CFTC commissioner, was tapped for the agency’s top job amid initial expectations that he would fly through Senate confirmation with support from the broader crypto and financial industries.
But his nomination stalled after the Gemini co-founders wrote to Trump to ask him to reconsider, with the White House subsequently halting a vote for unspecified reasons.
I’ve never been inclined to release private messages. But in light of my support for the President and belief that he might have been misled, I’ve posted here the messages that include the questions Tyler Winklevoss asked me pertaining to their prior litigation with the CFTC.
— Brian Quintenz (@BrianQuintenz) September 10, 2025
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said the Winklevoss twins were “flexing their Washington influence” after they had backed Trump’s presidential campaign with millions of dollars in donations.
In the letter to Trump, the Winklevoss twins slammed the CFTC for engaging in “7 years of lawfare trophy hunting.”
Quintenz shared on X a private exchanges that took place between himself and Tyler Winklevoss days before they sent the letter to Trump.
According to those messages, Tyler Winklevoss asked Quintenz how he plans to “align with President Trump and the Administration’s mandate to end the lawfare and make amends for it.”
Quintenz replied by saying that he was disappointed that the CFTC’s enforcement division had pursued the lawsuit against Gemini “so aggressively,” adding that he would undertake “a fair and reasonable review of the matter” if and when he is appointed as the agency’s new Chair.
Quintenz said that text messages from Tyler “make it clear what they were after” from him.
“It’s my understanding that after this exchange they contacted the President and asked that my confirmation be paused for reasons other than what is reflected in these texts,” he wrote.
CFTC May Have Bigger Role In Crypto Oversight
The search for a new CFTC chair comes as lawmakers weigh giving the CFTC new power over the crypto market.
The regulator has already made several pro-crypto moves in recent months, including allowing offshore exchanges to serve US citizens under its Crypto Sprint initiative to quickly implement the recommendations of the President’s Working Group report on digital asset markets.
In August, the agency also launched an initiative to enable the trading of spot crypto asset contracts.
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