Senate approves Michael Selig as CFTC Chair and Travis Hill as FDIC Chair

The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved two of President Donald Trump’s appointments to lead two of the most important U.S. cryptocurrency regulators. Mike Selig will join as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, while Travis Hill will head the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The chambers also approved a package of dozens of other nominees with a 53-43 vote. Selig will head the CFTC, which is expected to become a leading regulator of U.S. cryptocurrency activity once Congress completes the legislation to grant the agency more authority over crypto. He will succeed Acting Chairman Caroline Pham, who introduced a flurry of pro-crypto policy initiatives during her tenure at the agency.

Selig succeeds Caroline Pham in the CFTC

Pham was waiting for a permanent replacement from the financial watchdog to join MoonPay. She planned to join the U.S.-based crypto infrastructure service provider as both Chief Legal Officer and Chief Administrative Officer.

Selig’s appointment will enable him to continue working on digital asset policies that he has been pushing as an official at the Securities and Exchange Commission. His appointment also comes as the CFTC is working on several cryptocurrency regulations in the agency’s so-called crypto sprint. 

The rules include a push for allowing stablecoins to be used in tokenized collateral and to integrate blockchain technology into regulatory language across the agency. The CFTC has also recently been calling for regulated platforms to begin issuing spot leverage crypto products. Derivatives exchange company, Bitnomial, became the first to pursue such an offering.

As Selig joins the agency, he will face some changes made by Pham, including the reduction of the CFTC’s five-member commission to a single member. The agency’s previous chair revealed that she plans to leave as soon as Selig arrives, which will make him the only member of the commission. 

Selig, as the sole member of the commission, may reduce friction in implementing policies. However, it could also pose some legal vulnerability for challenges that the commission’s policies are not being properly instituted. 

Selig joins the agency as Congress works to pass legislation to overhaul the agency’s powers, granting it formal authorization over wider crypto spot trading. The House of Representatives passed the bill this year, but it’s awaiting the Senate’s approval. Close observers of the negotiations revealed that the Senate Banking Committee may hold a markup hearing for the legislation before the end of the month.

Hill seeks to continue his crypto regulatory policies

Hill has been serving as the acting chairman of the FDIC and has taken a crypto-friendly stance since then. The agency is working to regulate stablecoin issuers and also has a significant impact on how the crypto sector is banked.

Hill spoke at a hearing at the House Financial Services Committee on December 2, arguing that the Biden administration’s stance requires bankers to get approval from government supervisors before engaging in cryptocurrency activity. He acknowledged that the committee undid the policy and removed the prohibitions.

Hill has also championed digital asset regulatory policies by addressing complaints from the crypto industry regarding debanking. He took a leading role in addressing banks cutting off their relationships with crypto businesses and their executives, which was supported by industry insiders and many of their Republican policymakers.

Both positions at the CFTC and FDIC remained two of the most sought-after vacancies in Trump’s pro-crypto administration. The President has already appointed individuals to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Department of the Treasury. 

Trump has also been revamping the Federal Reserve Board, where his nominee for vice chairman of supervision, Michelle Bowman, took over five months ago. The President has also been pushing to replace Chairman Jerome Powell when his term expires next year.

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