White House May Tap Josh Sterling as CFTC Chair — What It Means for Crypto

The White House is vetting Josh Sterling, a former senior official at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as a potential nominee to lead the agency, according to people familiar with the ￰5￱ move comes after the stalled nomination of Brian Quintenz , whose confirmation process was delayed amid political pushback and conflict-of-interest ￰6￱ previously served as Director of the CFTC’s Market Participants Division from 2017 to 2021, where he oversaw policies related to market surveillance, registration of participants, and cryptocurrency trading ￰7￱ experience in both traditional markets and digital assets is being closely weighed as the administration searches for a candidate who can navigate the agency’s growing role in crypto oversight.

Sterling, Selig, Williams Floated as Contenders for Next CFTC Chair Eleanor Mueller first reported on X that Sterling is under consideration, while Bloomberg noted that other contenders include Mike Selig and Tyler Williams. News: The White House is vetting Josh Sterling for CFTC chair, I'm told, after Brian Quintenz's nomination ￰8￱ in the mix include Mike Selig and Tyler Williams, as scooped by Bloomberg: ￰0￱ More in Principals tomorrow: ￰1￱ — Eleanor Mueller (@Eleanor_Mueller) September 23, 2025 Selig, who serves as chief counsel to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto task force and was formerly a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, is viewed as having deep policy expertise.

Williams, a counselor to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on digital assets and a former executive at Galaxy Digital, has also been ￰9￱ search for a new chair comes as the CFTC prepares to expand its jurisdiction over the crypto ￰10￱ tasked with regulating derivatives such as futures and swaps, the agency’s role could grow under pending congressional legislation that would give it direct oversight of spot trading in digital commodities like Bitcoin and ￰11￱ chair Rostin Behnam, who stepped down in January , argued that the CFTC is best positioned to regulate digital commodities and oversaw several major enforcement actions, including a $4.3 billion settlement with Binance.

Quintenz, a former CFTC commissioner and head of policy at a16z crypto, was originally nominated by President Trump in ￰12￱ candidacy, initially backed by crypto industry groups , faced opposition after reports surfaced that Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss urged Trump to ￰13￱ White House has searched for a new @CFTC chair after Brian Quintenz’s nomination stalled amid Winklevoss ￰14￱ picks include Michael Selig and Tyler Williams. #CFTC #crypto #Winklevoss ￰2￱ — ￰15￱ (@cryptonews) September 19, 2025 The White House later asked the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees the agency, to pause it’s confirmation ￰16￱ CFTC is currently operating with only two commissioners on its five-member panel, leaving it with limited ￰17￱ observers warn that continued delays in confirming a permanent chair could slow progress on establishing clear rules for the crypto sector, even as calls for stronger oversight ￰18￱ Expands Digital Asset Advisory Roles, Links Efforts to New Crypto Bill The CFTC recently added new members to its Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC) and Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee (DAMS), showing its effort to bring industry expertise into digital asset ￰19￱ CFTC has named some crypto leaders as new members to its Global Markets Advisory Committee and its Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee. #CFTC #Crypto ￰3￱ — ￰20￱ (@cryptonews) September 20, 2025 Fresh appointees to DAMS include Katherine Minarik of Uniswap Labs, Avery Ching of Aptos Labs, James ￰21￱ of BNY, and Ben Sherwin of Chainlink Labs—figures with backgrounds in blockchain infrastructure, legal policy, and institutional crypto strategy.

JPMorgan’s Scott Lucas will now co-chair the group alongside Franklin Templeton’s Sandy Kaul, replacing Caroline ￰22￱ stressed the importance of “clear and effective regulatory frameworks,” while Kaul pointed to consumer protection as a key ￰23￱ advises the CFTC on blockchain, tokenization, and decentralized finance, helping the agency assess risks and align oversight across financial ￰24￱ appointments come as Congress advances a revised draft of the Responsible Financial Innovation Act of 2025 . A newly revised draft of crypto bill aims to clarify the regulatory responsibilities of the @SECGov and the @CFTC . #Crypto #Regulation ￰4￱ — ￰25￱ (@cryptonews) September 7, 2025 The bill proposes a Joint Advisory Committee between the SEC and CFTC, introduces explicit protections for decentralized developers, and clarifies that airdrops, staking rewards, and DePIN tokens are not securities.