The White House is vetting a former senior Commodity Futures Trading Commission official, Josh Sterling, as a potential nominee for CFTC chair after it pressed pause on existing nominee Brian Quintenz, people familiar with the talks told Semafor.
Sterling currently represents prediction market Kalshi as a partner at Milbank. Other new contenders for the chairmanship include Securities and Exchange Commission official Mike Selig and Treasury Department official Tyler Williams.
Quintenz allies, including influential venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, rallied to insulate him last month against pushback from key corners of the cryptocurrency and gambling industries — and Quintenz himself took to X to “make clear” why crypto billionaires Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss “were after me.”
But it hasn’t been enough to restart action on his nomination, after the Trump administration asked the Senate Agriculture Committee to pause.
The White House did not comment.
— Eleanor Mueller