Longtime crypto advocate Brian Quintenz plans to step down from his role as Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) by August 31, Quintenz told the Wall Street Journal.
- Quintenz said that he expects to announce a role in the private sector after his departure from the CFTC. He noted that he plans to “keep innovation, particularly related to cryptocurrency and DeFi, relevant to my career.”
- If Quintenz moves into the crypto industry, it would follow a trend of former regulators taking leadership roles at crypto companies.
- Quintenz, who was appointed in 2017 by then-President Trump, is one of only two Republicans on the five-seat CFTC. His absence will leave two empty seats on the Commission; the other has been empty since the January departure of former Chairman Heath Tarbet.
- President Biden reportedly plans to nominate acting Chairman Rostin Behnam, a Democrat, to officially lead the CFTC.
- Quintenz’s term expired last April and he previously committed to stepping down by October 2020, although he is legally allowed to remain on the Commission through the end of this year.
- As crypto regulation tightens, crypto-friendly regulators such as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commissioner Hester Peirce and Quintenz have taken on an increasingly large burden of promoting crypto innovation and education at the government level.
- During his tenure as CFTC Commissioner, Quintenz revived the Commission’s nearly dormant Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) which, before Quintenz re-organized it, had met only two times in the past three years.
Source: Coindesk
