Brian Quintenz, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, appears to be implying that Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss lobbied the White House to stall his nomination.

Quintenz shared screenshots Wednesday in a post on X, in which Tyler Winklevoss purportedly sought the CFTC nominee’s thoughts on a complaint Gemini’s attorneys sent to the agency’s inspector general in June.

In the June letter, Gemini attorney John Baughman characterized CFTC attorneys, who argued a long-running case against the crypto firm, as “driven by a selfish desire to advance their careers by misusing their offices to obtain a high-profile ‘win’ against Gemini.”

The CFTC sued Gemini in 2022, alleging the company made false and misleading statements regarding a bitcoin futures contract it was pursuing in 2017. Gemini paid $5 million to settle the suit in January – a prospect Winklevoss, in a July message to Quintenz over the encrypted app Signal, called “7 years of lawfare trophy hunting.”

"I'd like to understand your thoughts on this and how you plan to align with President Trump and the Administration's mandate to end the lawfare and make amends for it," Winklevoss texted Quintenz – a message the CFTC nominee shared Wednesday.

Quintenz replied that the issue should be handled by a confirmed CFTC chair, adding that he would look into it if he got the job.

The Winklevoss-Quintenz exchange is dated July 25, a Friday. Five days later, a report surfaced in Politico, alleging the Winklevosses contacted Trump directly that weekend, pressing the president to reconsider Quintenz as a nominee.

The Senate Agriculture Committee, that Monday, delayed a vote that could have advanced Quintenz’s nomination to the full chamber. The committee has not heard from the administration on whether to reschedule the vote, spokesperson Sara Lasure told Politico. 

“I believe these texts make it clear what they were after from me, and what I refused to promise,” Quintenz wrote Wednesday on X.

“I’ve never been inclined to release private messages,” he wrote, adding he did so “in light of my support for the President and belief that he might have been misled.”

Quintenz declined to comment to Politico beyond the post. A spokesperson for Gemini did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House also did not offer comment.

The Winklevoss twins are ardent Trump supporters who last month pledged $21 million toward a new super political action committee meant to support “champions of President Trump’s crypto agenda in primary races and the midterm elections.”

Quintenz’s X post comes at a pivotal time for Gemini, though. The company is set to go public Friday on the Nasdaq exchange and aims to fetch a valuation of up to $3.08 billion.

The CFTC, too, is in flux. Democratic Commissioner Kristin Johnson left the agency last week. Her departure followed those of Republican Commissioner Summer Mersinger, who left in May to become chief executive of the Blockchain Association, and Democratic Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero, who retired from federal service around the same time.

That leaves Republican Caroline Pham, the agency’s acting chair, as its sole commissioner. And she, too, said she would leave the commission once Quintenz is confirmed.

Trump tapped Quintenz in February to lead the CFTC, but the nominee’s post Wednesday makes clear his priority.

“I believe transparency and integrity are paramount,” Quintenz wrote Wednesday on X. “Protecting the President and his agenda [is] more important than any job.”

Gemini’s June complaint “raises serious questions and concerns about the culture of the agency that you are about to chair and its overall fitness on the eve of it being contemplated as a major regulator for the crypto industry,” Tyler Winklevoss allegedly wrote to Quintenz. “Cultural reform, which includes rectifying what happened to us, should be the highest priority.”

In his July exchange with the Winklevosses, Quintenz said he would undertake “a fair and reasonable review of the matter and the division and individuals involved to determine if they acted inappropriately.”

The CFTC, though – without Quintenz – has fired, demoted and forced out several members of its enforcement staff, including individuals who led the case against Gemini, according to the Financial Times.

Leaders in the agency’s enforcement division, including deputy directors Manal Sultan and Robert Howell and chief trial attorneys Alejandra de Urioste and Brent Tomer, were included in recent layoffs, people familiar with the matter told the publication. Sultan, de Urioste and Tomer led the CFTC’s 2022 case against Gemini, along with several trial attorneys, the sources said.