The White House has interrupted the process to advance the appointment of Brian Quintenz as president of the Futures Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
At the beginning of February, President Trump hit Quintenz, the head of the Capital-Résque A16Z policy to lead the CFTC.
Conflict problems emerge on Kalshi’s links during the CFTC transition
The reports cite increasing concerns concerning the conflicts of potential interests linked to the current role of Brian Quintenz on the Kalshi prediction market platform.
The Quintenz team would have requested confidential information on the CFTC concerning Kalshi competitors, polymarket and prediction during a transition planning process.
Meanwhile, Quintenz still has a board of directors in Kalshi, a platform regulated by the CFTC.
Eleanor Terrett, host of the Crypto America podcast, confirmed speculation, citing several possible triggers for delay.
According to Terret, the reasons include concerns concerning the number of votes in the Senate and the Lobbying of the American Gaming Association, which opposes the enlarged prediction markets. There is also a discomfort of eminent crypto figures such as the Winklevoss twins.
However, the attention merged around a detailed blog article from the closing line, would have gained ground on Capitol Hill.
The blog, “What request Foia tells us about the CFTC candidate and the conflicts of potential interests”, “ Presents an email cache obtained via a request from the Freedom of Information Act (Foia).
The emails indicate that Kevin Webb, appointed chief of staff of Quintenz, contacted CFTC staff in June.
Foia emails reveal requests for early access to sensitive CFTC data on competitors
Webb would have asked for briefings on sensitive subjects, including serial serriatims, a confidential internal voting process, employees on administrative leave and a list of open applications.
More closely, some of the referred webb waiting applications involve Kalshi competitors such as the recently acquired QCX platform of Polymarket and the parent company of Predictit, Aristotle.
For a perspective on competition, a recent regulatory repression against Kalshi also affected polymarket, the latter suffering from a 40% drop in daily active addresses.
Based on this, questions arise, since Quintenz is still a seated member of the Kalshi board of directors, and Kalshi is a contractual market designated by CFTC (DCM).
Foia documents suggest that these communications may have crossed ethical boundaries due to the direct intersection with Kalshi’s competitive space.
“If Quintenz has requested and received information on the DCMS which are or will be competitors of Kalshi … This is undoubtedly a conflict of interest,” read an extract in the closing blog.
Playing the devil’s lawyer, however, it should be noted that these communications are potentially routine in the context of federal agency transitions.
In his declaration of ethics and his testimony to the Senate Agriculture Committee, Quintenz undertook not to participate in questions affecting Kalshi until he files his interest or obtains a derogation.
He also undertook to use screening in his office to prevent conflicts. However, current control focuses on the question of whether these guarantees were sufficiently observed during the transition phase.
The White House did not explain publicly why the planned vote on Monday was postponed. However, Bloomberg reports that Quintenz remains President Trump’s candidate.
In the meantime, The closing line The continuous report to circulate among cryptographic lobbyists and political initiates as a possible tilting point in the trajectory of the appointment.
While the Senate considers its next stages, the episode reflects the way in which the prediction markets and the companies behind them become flash points in the regulatory and political arenas.
The appointment of the CFTC of the post of Brian Quintenz in the limbo on the links of the board of directors of Kalshi appeared first on Beincrypto.
