The possible guard dog of the cryptocurrency industry of the United States, the Basic Products Commerce Commission, has a personnel problem at the top, and the last of its acting commissioners announced its starting plans before the arrival of the president of the agency elected by President Donald Trump.
Democrat Kristen Johnson has now joined the other three acting commissioners to let her starting plans clear on Wednesday, leaving Trump’s choice to lead the agency, former commissioner Brian Quintenz, potentially directing an empty commission.
If the Senate confirms it, Quintenz is taking over the place currently occupied by Christy Goldsmith Romero, a Democrat who said he plans to go at the end of this month, whether Quintenz arrives or not. Since Johnson said he would “at the end of this year”, he can serve Quintenz for a period of time in a democratic republican confrontation one by one there.
Johnson, who was installed in the commission of five members in a partial term that recently expired, had the option of staying in the agency until it was replaced. She did not immediately respond to a more clarity request on her starting time.
The two acting Republicans of the commission also have exit plans, with Summer Mersinger assuming the Blockchain association, a cryptography lobbying group and the interim president Caroline Pham with the intention of returning to an un specified role in the private sector once Quintenz takes over.
That is the end of the current commissioner list, which means that Quintenz could be left alone on the regulator of American derivative markets unless Trump makes some fast nominations and the Senate responds quickly. Until now, legislators have moved relatively slowly in Quintenz in contrast to the sister agency of the CFTC, the stock exchange and values commission, which is already proceeding under the administration of Trump Pick Atkins.
The CFTC had been two commissioners in recent years during the mandate of previous President Rostin Behnam, and the four current commissioners swore within a couple of weeks in 2022 to fill the list. According to the law, the agency can operate without its complete complement to commissioners, but legal observers have argued in the past that a single remaining commissioner of a party could face legal challenges when trying to implement a unilateral agenda.
It is likely that the derivative regulator is the main guard dog of the American cryptographic activity under the legislation considered in Congress to establish a national supervision regime. While agency’s demand to elaborate cryptographic rules may not arrive for a while, any legal confusion or uncertainty about the CFTC can be problematic.
Johnson, who had taken a three -year license from the Law Faculty of the University of Emory to correspond to the time that remains in the term in which he entered, concentrated much of his farewell statement on the artificial intelligence work. But she also referred to Crypto.
“I encouraged the commission to begin a dialogue of multiple parties interested in digital asset markets that would help prepare the commission personnel to create regulation to carry out a mandate of the congress and, at the same time, offer educational workshops on fundamental issues such as corporate governance, resolution planning and customer protection characteristics of the CFTC Regulation,” he said.
Read more: CFTC Mersinger Commissioner to be CEO of the Blockchain Association
