A US congresswoman has urged the commodities regulator to analyze its nominated chair, Brian Quintenz, over his ties to Kalshi, a prediction platform regulated by the CFTC.
Democratic Representative Dina Titus requested Commodity Futures Trading Commission performing chair Caroline Pham in a letter on Monday to open “an inquiry into whether or not Mr. Brian Quintenz has violated CFTC insurance policies, any relevant federal statute, or his personal moral pledge previous to his Senate affirmation” to chair the company.
“Specifically, I request that you just launch all related communications from or about Mr. Quintenz associated to prediction markets and occasion contracts,” she wrote.
“As you might be conscious, Mr. Quintenz is at present on the board of Kalshi and holds inventory choices within the firm.”
A vote on Quintenz’s nomination was just lately derailed, having been delayed twice prior to now month.
Last week, the Senate Agriculture Committee pulled a deliberate listening to for the nomination on request from the White House, however the administration reportedly nonetheless helps the nomination.
Congresswoman calls for communications be launched
Titus mentioned a current Freedom of Information Act request indicated that Quintenz had “sought info relating to Kalshi’s opponents and that he could also be concerned in company decision-making previous to his Senate affirmation.”
“While I hope Mr. Quintenz is following the legislation and his personal moral pledge, sadly this company has already confirmed to not be clear,” she added, saying the CFTC had disregarded laws “and the legislation by permitting the buying and selling of occasion contracts on sporting occasions which might be unlawful playing.”
Titus requested the CFTC to “launch all communications between the company and Mr. Quintenz associated to fee issues on prediction markets,” together with any makes an attempt to direct folks to “talk with Mr. Quintenz via his non-public e-mail.”
Titus aired considerations about Quintenz in June, posting on X on the time that he “have to be requested about his plans for prediction markets” and if he led the CFTC, “each state’s capability to manage and tax gaming is at stake.”
In February, she known as prediction markets on sports activities a “backdoor method to permit sports activities betting in 50 states” that ignored “client protections, accountable gaming, integrity monitoring, and state tax income guidelines and laws.”
“Impractical,” Quintenz gained’t regulate Kalshi as sole commissioner
Titus mentioned that the steps Quintenz pledged to take if made CFTC chair wouldn’t be sensible, as he’s slated to be the one particular person on the sometimes five-strong fee steering the company.
Pham has mentioned she’ll depart the company as soon as Quintenz is confirmed, and the one different present commissioner, Kristin Johnson, mentioned in May she’d stop “later this yr” after her three-year time period expired in April.
Quintenz mentioned in a letter to the CFTC in May that if appointed to run the company, he’d resign from Kalshi — which is regulated by the CFTC as a Designated Contract Market — and forfeit or divest his shares within the agency and wouldn’t take part in any issues involving the corporate for a yr after he resigns.
“Mr. Quintenz could be the solely commissioner of the CFTC for a while, it appears impractical to imagine that he is not going to make any choices involving Kalshi for one yr, contemplating the huge quantity of regulatory and authorized motion regarding prediction markets,” Titus mentioned.
Related: White House crypto guidelines carry SEC-CFTC readability for US crypto corporations: Lawyer
“Furthermore, regulatory inaction is of fabric profit to Kalshi,” she added.
Winklevoss twins flip on Quintenz
Titus’s letter comes simply days after Politico reported on Wednesday that crypto trade Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss pressed President Donald Trump to rethink Quintenz’s nomination.
The brothers reportedly advised Trump that Quintenz wouldn’t shake up the CFTC sufficient and that he wasn’t aligned with the president’s agenda, pointing to Quintenz’s suggestion in an affidavit in June that the CFTC’s price range wants a lift for its new duties in regulating crypto.
It’s a pointy reversal from the twins’ tackle Quintenz when he was first nominated by Trump, with Cameron Winklevoss posting on X in February that he was “precisely the chief the CFTC wants” whereas Tyler Winklevoss wrote the choose was “properly deserved” and a “nice selection for crypto and for America.”
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