Investing.com-- U.S. President Donald Trump plans to pick Brian Quintenz, the head of policy at Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm, to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing a White House document.
Quintez currently serves as head of policy at Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto arm, and is a proponent of the industry. He had served as a Republican commissioner at the CFTC during Trump’s first presidency.
Quintenz’s nomination represents another pro-crypto candidate in Trump’s regulatory picks, which includes Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.
While the SEC regulates securities markets, the CFTC is in charge of derivatives and commodities- a trait that has spurred calls from the crypto industry that the body is more suited to regulating crypto.
The CFTC is also seen as having less strict regulatory requirements than the SEC.
Crypto proponents expect to Trump to transfer more crypto regulatory responsibilities to the CFTC.
Trump had recently signed an executive order calling for a regulatory framework for digital assets. He had also campaigned on a pro-crypto platform.
Bitcoin rallied to record highs on Trump’s election win. But the world’s largest cryptocurrency has struggled to make headway in recent weeks.