CFTC's Pham Said to Plot Exit, Agency May Be Left Without a Party Majority

Caroline Pham, the acting chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures and Trading Commission, has openly discussed an intention to leave the commission once she's permanently replaced, people familiar with her plans have said, leaving significant questions about the future track of agency policy. If President Donald Trump's nominee for the chairmanship, former Commissioner Brian Quintenz, is confirmed by the Senate to take the job, the departure of Republican Pham could coincide with the planned exit of fellow Republican Commissioner Summer Mersinger to run the Blockchain Association. Who's left? The new Republican chairman — who served as a policy head for a16z after leaving the agency — would find himself alongside a single fellow commissioner: Democrat Kristin Johnson. This leaves Quintenz with practical control of the agency's agenda and staffing, because almost all of its employees will report to his office. But the CFTC could be hamstrung to make new policy as Congress is working on legislation that could assign the regulator new powers over the crypto industry. The longer it waits before the White House picks nominees to face Senate confirmation, the longer the potential delay of higher-stakes policy work that requires commission involvement. The CFTC normally has five members — a chair and two others from the majority party plus two commissioners from the minority party. If Quintenz gets the Senate nod, he's taking over the spot currently held by Christy Goldsmith Romero, a Democrat who said she's leaving her extended stint in government service when this role ends. The sole Democrat, Johnson, hasn't cultivated a reputation for her digital assets views, like the sharper rhetoric associated with the Securities and Exchange Commission's lone Democrat, Caroline Crenshaw. It's unclear what common ground, if any, would be carved out between Johnson and Quintenz if they were to serve as a two-person commission. Mersinger will start as CEO of the crypto lobbying group Blockchain Association at the start of next month, according to board president and chair Marta Belcher's remarks highlighting the new hire on Wednesday at Consensus 2025 in Toronto, calling her a person who could take crypto "to the next level in policy." "This decision is not easy, and it breaks my heart to leave the agency that I have grown to love so much over the last five years," Mersinger said in a statement. She'll soon be lobbying on policy that is likely to one day direct her former agency to regulate the spot markets for the bulk of crypto trading in the U.S. As the interim head of the agency appointed after Trump reclaimed the White House, Pham, a former executive at Citigroup Inc., has taken an aggressive stance to ease the CFTC's use of enforcement actions to steer crypto matters and to rethink some of its policy positions. The acting chairman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment after hours on Wednesday. Before Pham and Mersinger arrived in a slate of four appointees that also included Democrats Johnson and Romero, the CFTC had been down to two commissioners. The recently departed Chairman Rostin Behnam, a Democrat, had served for a time with Dawn Stump, a Republican. It's unclear what the president's nomination strategy may eventually be for the CFTC's potential three vacancies if Pham departs, which would include one position for a Democrat. So far, Trump has sought to remove Democratic appointees from federal regulatory agencies, such as at the Federal Trade Commission and the National Credit Union Administration. Read More: CFTC Commissioner Mersinger to Be CEO at Blockchain Association