Friday, December 23, 2022, at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission headquarters in Washington, DC.
Ting Sheng | Bloomberg | Getty Images
President Donald Trump has appointed Michael Selig to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, administration officials and Selig himself announced Saturday.
Mr. Selig is chief counsel on the CFTC’s Virtual Currency Task Force and has worked with Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins.
Selig and David Sachs, the White House artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar, acknowledged the selection in separate posts about X.
Sachs praised Selig for his “deep knowledge of financial markets and his passion for modernizing our regulatory approach to keep America competitive in the digital asset era.”
“I will work tirelessly to promote the healthy functioning of commodity markets, promote freedom, competition, and innovation, and help the President make the United States the crypto capital of the world,” Selig said in the X-Post.
The CFTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Selig’s selection to chair the CFTC was first reported by Bloomberg News.
The selection comes as the digital asset industry, which has faced regulatory pressure, takes center stage with new legislation under the Trump administration.
The GENIUS Act, passed earlier this year, and the CLARITY Act, which aims to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets, have been well received by investors in the sector.
Trump has been vocal about his support for cryptocurrencies, promising during the election campaign that if elected, he would make the United States the crypto capital of the world.
Cryptocurrency has become a recurring theme in the Trump family’s business empire, including owner Truth Social Trump Media & Technology GroupDT Marks DEFI LLC is an entity with ties to the Trump family that owns nearly 38% of the company that controls the cryptocurrency venture World Liberty Financial. and a meme coin launched by both the president and first lady Melania Trump.
President Trump originally nominated Brian Quintenz to chair the CFTC, but the nomination fell through due to opposition from Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of a recently listed cryptocurrency exchange. gemini.
Quintenz, a Republican who previously headed the agency, had accused Winklevoss of lobbying the White House to block his nomination.
The CFTC is typically led by a bipartisan group of five commissioners. Until now, the president has nominated committee members from both parties.
Mr. Selig has been with the CFTC since March 2025 and was previously a partner at the international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
