U.S. CFTC, a Top Crypto Watchdog, Is About to Shrink Commission to Only One Member

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is about to drop to a single commissioner when Democrat Kristin Johnson leaves the agency next week, and the only other person waiting in the wings to join the regulator is President Donald Trump's chairman nominee, Brian Quintenz.

As of Sept. 3, the five-member commission will drop to one, because that's when Johnson will exit, she said in a Tuesday announcement.

"In advancing an agenda in the name of growth, it is critical not to dismantle the foundational resilience that supports financial stability and protects the broader economy," she said in a farewell statement encouraging the agency to stick to the fundamentals as new technologies come on board.

Alone at the commissioner level will be Acting Chairman Caroline Pham, a crypto advocate who Trump appointed to run the agency while he sought a permanent chair. Trump's pick was ultimately former Commissioner Brian Quintenz, who has worked as a policy chief at a16z and for prediction market firm Kalshi. But the White House delayed Quintenz's confirmation process, leaving it in some uncertainty as the Senate returns from its summer recess next week.

The nominee has been openly opposed by Tyler Winklevoss, the CEO of crypto exchange Gemini and one of Trump's favored crypto insiders, but much of the industry recently petitioned Trump to speed Quintenz toward a confirmation.

The CFTC is the U.S. regulator of derivatives markets, though it's awaiting congressional action to give it the power to police the spot market in crypto commodities, such as bitcoin BTC$87,866.36. The agency has already been a major player in U.S. crypto oversight, having pushed a number of major enforcement actions and led discussions on how to incorporate the crypto sector's innovations into the massive global commodities markets.

If Quintenz replaces Pham atop the agency, she's said she intends to leave and return to the private sector.

That'll mean Quintenz would helm the commission solo, short four members, and Trump has so far shown no signs of nominating others. The president's administration has been characterized by a campaign to cut Democrats away from regulatory commissions, abandoning the tradition — and legal mandate — of having both parties involved in decisions at federal agencies. Quintenz has said he'll move forward with whatever choices Trump makes.

Though some have argued that letting a five-person commission drop to one could make it vulnerable to legal challenges on its policy moves, there's nothing specific in the law that prohibits the regulator from continuing on that basis. It arguably streamlines the review of new rules to a single office rather than five, but the work of writing the eventual crypto regulations could already be hampered by the significant staff cuts seen since the Trump administration began reducing the federal workforce.

Read More: While CFTC Awaits New Chairman, Acting Chief Pham Gets Rolling on Crypto