President Donald Trump nominated cryptocurrency regulator Mike Selig to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the nominee confirmed Saturday in a post on social media platform X.
Selig serves as chief counsel to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto task force, which launched in January to bring regulatory clarity to digital assets.
“With the President’s leadership, a Great Golden Age for America’s Financial Markets and a Wealth of New Opportunities stand before us,” Selig wrote Saturday. “I pledge to work tirelessly to facilitate Well-Functioning Commodity Markets, promote Freedom, Competition and Innovation, and help the President make the United States the Crypto Capital of the World.”
Selig’s nomination comes after the Trump administration withdrew fellow crypto ally Brian Quintenz’s bid to lead the CFTC. Quintenz served as a commissioner at the agency from 2017 to 2021 and, more recently, Andreessen Horowitz’s head of crypto policy initiatives. He alleged that crypto billionaires and Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss tanked his nomination – by contacting Trump – due to actions the CFTC took against Gemini during Quintenz’s tenure as a commissioner.
If confirmed, Selig would become the CFTC’s 16th chair, replacing acting chair Caroline Pham.
Pham is now the agency’s only commissioner after a series of departures this spring and summer. Democrat Christy Goldsmith Romero retired from federal service in May. Republican Summer Mersinger, in the same month, left to become chief executive of the Blockchain Association. Democrat Kristin Johnson, meanwhile, departed in September.
Pham, too, announced earlier this year that she would leave the CFTC once Quintenz was confirmed. His withdrawal has kept her in place for the time being.
David Sacks, chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, confirmed Selig’s nomination in a separate X post Saturday.
“As anyone who knows him will attest, @MikeSeligEsq is deeply knowledgeable about financial markets and passionate about modernizing our regulatory approach in order to maintain America’s competitiveness in the digital asset era,” Sacks wrote. “Mike has not only been instrumental in driving forward the President’s crypto agenda as Chief Counsel of the SEC Crypto Task Force, he also brings deep experience in traditional commodities markets from his time working at the CFTC under former Chairman Chris Giancarlo.”
Selig worked in the office of the CFTC commissioner in 2014 and 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile, and followed that up with stints at Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft; Reed Smith; Perkins Coie; and, most recently, Willkie Farr & Gallagher. He joined the SEC crypto task force in March.
Selig’s nomination received positive support elsewhere in the crypto sphere.
In a prepared statement, Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Hun Kim said Selig’s “deep regulatory experience and informed approach to financial innovation make him the right choice to lead the CFTC at this pivotal moment.”
“His work at the CFTC, in private practice, and at the SEC provides him an unparalleled perspective on market structure and innovation,” Kim said. “His confirmation will ensure the Commission has the leadership necessary to deliver clarity, stability, and global competitiveness for U.S. markets.”
Chris Dixon, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm a16zcrypto said on X that the timing for Selig’s nomination “couldn’t be more important.”
“[M]arket structure legislation needs to cross the finish line to deliver clear, workable rules for builders and consumers,” Dixon wrote. “Mike’s leadership will be a major asset.”
Earlier this year, the CFTC embarked on a crypto sprint, working closely with the SEC on its Project Crypto.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins, himself a former crypto lobbyist, said on X that Selig was “deeply knowledgeable about financial markets and passionate about modernizing our regulatory approach in order to maintain America’s competitiveness in the digital asset era.”
