The White House in the weight of multiple CFTC spot candidates: former chairman Giancarlo

Acting Chairman Caroline Fam, the US Commodity Futures and Trade Commission, has made progress on crypto-friendly policies, but despite one foot coming out of the door, the White House is working quickly to find a permanent successor after abandoning President Donald Trump’s first choice.

Former Commissioner Trump candidate Brian Quintz was recently withdrawn, and the administration is “working hard” to announce a new choice, former CFTC chair Chris Gancarlo added that he was in the White House on Wednesday.

“The White House felt they were holding it in their hands. It didn’t work,” Giancarlo said in an interview with Coindesk TV. “I’m very optimistic and soon everyone will have a candidate who says, ‘Amazing, great choice’. ”

Giancarlo – The name used as the title of a book on the digital asset movement, a longtime crypto advocate known in the industry as “Crypto Dad,” said the White House is reviewing CFTC candidates beyond the chairman. Without the Commissioner Slate, anyone who takes over the Femme would be alone on the committee. Policies enacted by a single committee can be vulnerable to legal challenges.

“They know this very much,” Giancarlo said. “They know what they have to do.”

According to those familiar with the review, the top candidate for the chairman is Mike Selig. Candidates need confirmation from the US Senate before taking employment. This is the process that stalled Quintz and Midstream after being openly opposed by Gemini CEO Tyler Winclevos.

The CFTC could be the leading regulator of the US crypto market, especially if the Senate passes the market structure laws that have already cleared the House. That effort gives new authority to smaller cousins ​​of the SEC and grants jurisdiction over spot markets where cryptocurrency products such as Bitcoin trade directly. The SEC is rapidly moving towards a pursuit of codes under Trump, but the CFTC had a deep history with the sector to recognize Bitcoin in 2015 as a commodity.

Earlier this week, Fam tried to assure financial sector lawyers that the CFTC is on track under her temporary leadership, but she also said she hopes to leave the agency soon. Giancarlo said she was owed a “thankful debt” for what she was doing.

The Shorthanded CFTC is waiting for new leadership, but the Senate has been slowed down due to federal shutdowns, indicating that there are few indications of short-term completion of industry laws.

Brian Steele, chairman of the Cryptody Subcommittee within the House Financial Services Committee, said in another interview with Koindsk Television that his current goal is “to complete this as soon as possible, but not by the end of the year.” It slipped quite a bit from Trump’s first August deadline.

The House has already passed a version (the digital asset market clarity method) this year with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. Steil argued that Senate Republicans proposed their own draft, a text that lawmakers have worked for, but that the Senate could save a lot of time by “using Clarity as baseline text as Baseline Text.”

Read more: US SEC takes preliminary steps to expand crypto custody universe into state trusts