Digital Asset Industry Throws Weight Behind Quintenz for CFTC Chair Role

Major crypto trade associations unite behind former commissioner's leadership bid.

Industry Backing

Top digital asset advocacy groups formally endorse Quintenz's nomination—citing his deep understanding of crypto markets and regulatory nuance. The move signals coordinated sector support as regulatory battles intensify.

Regulatory Implications

Stakeholders argue his appointment would bring much-needed crypto expertise to the CFTC's top role. Critics whisper about regulatory capture—because nothing says 'public oversight' like industry-anointed leadership. The nomination now faces Senate scrutiny amid ongoing jurisdictional turf wars.

The leading industry groups representing the broader digital assets industry jointly issued the following letter of support for the nomination of Mr. Brian Quintenz as Chairman of the CFTC.https://t.co/4E1t9JrNdU

Read below@crypto_council @BlockchainAssn @TheDRC_… pic.twitter.com/owAfjeMZ4R

— The Digital Chamber (@DigitalChamber) August 20, 2025

August 20, 2025

The Honorable Donald J. Trump

President of the United States

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,

N.W. Washington,

D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

On behalf of the leading industry associations representing the digital asset industry, we write united in respectfully reiterating our strong support for your nomination of Mr. Brian Quintenz as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and to express our collective alignment on the need for his expeditious confirmation by the United States Senate. Indeed, the prompt confirmation of Mr. Quintenz as permanent Chairman is essential to accomplishing the proactive agenda your Administration has established to ensure a golden age for digital assets in America.

Each of our organizations has had the privilege of knowing and working with Mr. Quintenz firsthand, and we can attest to his DEEP expertise, sound judgment, proven leadership, and integrity. Bringing much needed practical and deep technical expertise, he understands the importance of digital assets to U.S. competitiveness, security, and economic leadership. As he stated in his Senate Agriculture Committee nomination hearing, he views blockchain as a “horizontal technology that has the potential to touch every aspect of society,” underscoring his forward-looking vision of this transformative technology.

We are united in our conviction that Mr. Quintenz is uniquely prepared to serve as Chairman of the CFTC at this defining moment for America’s financial markets and digital asset future. The U.S. digital asset industry and the CFTC are at a pivotal crossroads in terms of advancing fit-for-purpose regulations that will promote responsible innovation, protect market integrity, and ensure U.S. economic dynamism and global competitiveness.

Mr. Quintenz’s extensive experience and substantive and technical understanding of blockchains, digital assets, and financial markets makes him exceptionally well-suited to lead the CFTC at this critical juncture. Over the course of his career, he has demonstrated a deep understanding of regulatory frameworks, commitment to safeguarding markets, and a proven history of fostering digital asset innovation.

As CFTC Commissioner, Mr. Quintenz recognized the transformative potential of digital assets and the importance of U.S. leadership in this space. As Chair of the CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee (TAC), he convened the most comprehensive set of public discussions on digital assets of any federal financial regulator. During his tenure, the CFTC oversaw the listing of the first U.S.-regulated Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts and engaged with the growth and importance of decentralized finance (DeFi). Throughout, he consistently advocated for tailored, risk-calibrated regulation that balanced innovation with market integrity. His leadership at the CFTC and later in the private sector underscores his long-standing conviction that blockchain technology will transform society and that the U.S. must lead in shaping its future.

Indeed, Mr. Quintenz brings unmatched expertise and foresight to the challenges and opportunities of digital asset regulation, strengthened by his extensive private sector experience. He engaged directly with regulators and policymakers worldwide, as well as with entrepreneurs, software developers, and startup technology and digital asset firms, giving him unique insight into what has worked, and what has failed, in building sound regulatory frameworks, and the impact this has on consumers, businesses, and markets. He understands digital assets not merely as financial innovations, but as foundational technologies with far-reaching implications for ownership, identity, and value in the digital age. He has been a strong advocate for protecting software developers who build peer-to-peer, non-custodial systems and for ensuring that any regulatory framework allows such innovators to thrive in the U.S. With a clear-eyed view of the immense potential of this technology and the risks posed by bad actors, Mr. Quintenz is uniquely prepared to lead the CFTC in establishing fair, transparent, and trusted markets that will safeguard America’s leadership in digital assets.

As the Presidential Working Group on Digital Asset Markets Report clearly articulated, the CFTC has many critical, complex, and nuanced goals ahead of it, including working with Congress to establish a comprehensive federal market structure framework with appropriate oversight of digital asset commodities, in order to advance your Administration’s agenda.

Installing a permanent Chairman to the CFTC is absolutely critical to realizing these goals with rules, guidance and interagency collaboration that will prove durable and able to stand the test of time to ensure a golden age of crypto innovation. Mr. Quintenz possesses a singular capacity to advance sound and clear regulation that will foster responsible growth and innovation. He is, quite simply, the right person at the right time to lead the CFTC.

Thank you again for your commitment to ensuring the U.S. as the crypto capital of the world, which we believe will be best realized through Mr. Quintenz’s prompt confirmation as Chairman of the CFTC.

Respectfully,

Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI)

Blockchain Association

Decentralization Research Center

DeFi Education Fund

The Digital Chamber

Satoshi Action Fund

Solana Policy Institute