Sources: SEC Cryptocurrency Task Force Chief Counsel Mike Selig remains the top candidate for CFTC Chair

According to Crypto In America, the White House is close to making a decision on a candidate to succeed Brian Quintenz as chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Mike Selig, the chief counsel of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) cryptocurrency task force, remains the administration's top candidate, according to two sources close to the process. It is reported that the White House has also begun reviewing potential commissioners to rebuild the five-member committee. The committee is currently headed by acting chair Caroline Pham alone.
After Quintenz was ousted last month, industry groups kept pressuring the White House to nominate a crypto-friendly candidate. At the same time, Congress is also about to pass a market structure bill to expand the CFTC's rulemaking power over the cryptocurrency market. According to sources, the top conditions for the new candidate include understanding the policies of the SEC and the CFTC, and being able to help the government achieve the goal of coordinating and unifying the supervision of the two agencies.
Selig is also a senior advisor to Paul Atkins, Chairperson of the Securities Exchange Commission. He began his career at the CFTC as a clerk to then-Commissioner Chris Giancarlo, and then spent ten years in private practice, working at the law firm Perkins Coie and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and was a member of the firm's digital assets team.