CFTC chair nominee Brian Quintenz posted many messages he exchanged with Tyler Winklevoss, who seemed to be a bid to restore his nomination process.
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The narrative
During Wednesday, in the event and regulation of CoinDesk, a major topic of communication was a Post From former Futures trade commissioner Brian Quintenz where he shared chat logs From a conversation with Gemini co-founder and CEO Tyler Winklevoss, an unexpected transition from a former official publicly waiting for the Senate to confirm him to lead the commodities regulator.
Why important
Quintenz’s path to become chair of the CFTC seems to be clear until late July, when the Senate Agriculture Committee has twice postponed a major vote to advance his nomination. The White House asked the committee to pause the vote without first giving an explanation, even though Winklevoss eventually told CoinDesk that he had lobby the White House to impose that hold. The CFTC is set to be the main area of the Crypto market regulator for the US, and is currently assisted by acting chair Caroline Pham, Who is planning to leave the agency After Quintenz’s nomination and no other commissioners. The potential lack of leadership as the agency is assigned to new mandates may be slow or otherwise complicated any sharing rulemaking.
Breaking it
An active nominee waiting for a Senate vote that shares an exchange he has with the president’s donors is not uncommon, to say the least. In his post, Quintenz said “he is not inclined to release private messages” but he believes President Donald Trump “may have been lost.”
“I posted here messages that included questions that Tyler Winklevoss asked me about their earlier CFTC trial,” he said. “I believe these texts are clear what they are from me, and what I refused to promise. This is my understanding that after this exchange they have contacted the President and asked that my confirmation will be paused for reasons other than what these texts can be seen.”
The texts he shared showed that he exchanged messages with Winklevoss on July 24 and 25. The first deferred vote on the Senate Agriculture Committee was originally scheduled for July 21, and the rescheduled vote was on July 28. The White House requested at least a second vote Delayed.
Speakers for Gemini and the Senate Agriculture Committee did not return requests for the comment, and a White House official could not be reached. Quintenz refused to comment beyond his post when CoinDesk reached earlier this week.
The messages are about Gemini’s complaint with the CFTC inspector tied to a CFTC case against the exchange, which was fixed earlier this year. Winklevoss asked Quintenz for his thoughts on the complaint, while Quintenz repeatedly said it was better for “a fully confirmed seat” to weigh this matter.
It is not clear from messages if Winklevoss asks for a Quid Pro Quo (He noted that Quintenz asked for a endorsement) Or just trying to confirm with his own pleasure that Quintenz will end what Winklevoss described as “law” against Gemini and otherwise reshape the agency to be more friendly to the industry.
By the end of Quintenz, his reherence was probably political to the Savvines – if he had made some form of promise, he may need to recreate himself to engage in the issue when he actually reached the agency. If he had made a promise and it became public before a Senate vote, it would probably be a point of talking if there was a debate in his nomination. Quintenz also said in messages that he didn’t have “anything near a whole picture of what was going on inside the building,” and he “decided to wait until I get to the paper to get that perspective compared to trying to get it now through the current leadership.”
The timing of Quintenz’s confirmation votes – he needed both the Senate Agriculture Committee to advance him and the entire Senate to confirm him – remain discussing. But this is a sign of how much that process has slowed that he felt posting these messages would help his factor.
Monday
- No hearings or votes have been scheduled for the coming week.
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