Potential Candidates for CFTC Chair

By Hannah Lang, Michelle Price and Chris Prentice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Officials on President-elect Donald Trump's transition team are considering current and former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) officials for the chair of the agency, according to four sources.

While traditionally seen as a junior player in financial policy, the CFTC is likely to take on a more prominent role as the Trump administration begins to overhaul cryptocurrency regulations next year.

Among those under consideration for CFTC chair is Summer Mersinger, a Republican commissioner who has defended crypto firms against enforcement actions and advocated for the CFTC to establish rules for the crypto industry. She is currently viewed as the frontrunner, partly due to her previous role as a top aide to Republican Senator John Thune, who was elected to lead the Senate next year.

Other contenders for the chair include former CFTC commissioner Jill Sommers, currently with consulting firm Patomak Global Partners, and Josh Sterling, a partner at law firm Milbank and former CFTC official.

The transition team is not expected to finalize financial agency nominations this week; such announcements are likely to follow after Trump selects a Treasury secretary. The CFTC currently has five politically appointed commissioners: three Democrats and two Republicans.

Caroline Pham, the other Republican commissioner, is also a potential candidate and has expressed interest in the position, advocating for a program to support digital asset companies.

Mersinger and Pham did not comment through spokespeople on Thursday. Sterling, Sommers, and a CFTC spokesperson also declined to comment. Politico first reported that the four individuals are in the running.

"President-Elect Trump is making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration. Those decisions will be announced when they are made," stated Karoline Leavitt, Trump transition spokeswoman.

President Joe Biden's regulators have sued multiple crypto companies, asserting violations of U.S. securities, derivatives trading, and anti-money-laundering laws. Crypto firms claim the current rules are inappropriate, advocating for Congress to create a new regulatory framework overseen by the CFTC.

Trump has courted crypto support with promises to be a 'crypto president' and the industry is pushing for his administration to implement policies to end the crackdown and promote adoption of digital assets.

Officials are discussing the implementation of these policies, consulting with prominent executives from the crypto industry, including former CFTC Chair Heath Tarbert, who is now chief legal officer at Circle, and former Republican CFTC commissioner Brian Quintenz, who leads policy for a16z crypto, a venture fund of Andreessen Horowitz.

Tarbert declined to comment through a Circle spokesperson, while Quintenz did not immediately respond to requests for comment.