Nominee to Head CFTC Won’t Say If Commission Needs More Resources to Oversee Crypto

“Whether we need more resources or not, once confirmed I will make that assessment,” Selig said in response to a line of questioning by Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM). “But I really think it would be irresponsible of me to pre-judge that issue.”

Selig currently serves as chief counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Project Crypto task force. He is Trump’s second nominee for the CFTC spot after his original pick, Brian Quintenz of Andreesen Horowitz, was dropped after facing opposition from some prominent crypto industry figures.

Selig’s refusal to say definitively whether the agency needed sources was notable, per Decrypt, given that both the chair and ranking member of the Ag Committee, Sens. John Boozman (R-AR) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), respectively, have voiced support for increasing CFTC’s budget in the face of the pending expansion in its responsibilities.

“I don’t know why it’s hard to say we need more staff,” Sen. Lujan said at one point.

The Senate is currently considering legislation to establish a legal structure of crypto markets, including for the trading of non-security digital assets. Under the market structure bill passed by the House in May, the Clarity Act, oversight of spot markets for those assets would fall to the CFTC, while crypto instruments deemed to be investment contracts would fall to the SEC.

Related: SEC Crypto Counsel Named to Head CFTC

CFTC is also nominally responsible for overseeing prediction markets, which are currently exploding in popularity. But they are exploding in controversy as some prediction market operators embrace sports betting. Some states have legalized online sports betting, while others continue to prohibit it as illicit gambling leaving the legality of interstate markets that allow sports betting unclear. If Congress were to establish a national standard, oversight of those markets would also likely fall to the CFTC.

Selig also demurred on whether he would press the White House to appoint Democratic commissioners to the board. By law, regulatory agencies like CFTC are supposed to be led by a presidentially five-member commission appointment by the president, two of whom must come from the out-of-power party. The CFTC is currently operating under a lone Republican acting chair, Caroline Pham, and Trump has thus far refused to nominate other commissioners.

Senate Democrats are concerned over handing extensive new authority to the agency while its under exclusive Republican control and the question of whether Trump will agree to add Democrats to the commission has become a major sticking point in negotiations over the market structure legislation.

“For those of us who want to get to ‘yes’ on a market structure bill, having some sense that there’s some oversight—that it isn’t just going to be you, vulnerable to the pressure of the president as the only one there—is something I think many of us are going to be watching,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said during the hearing.

“The CFTC is able to function with a single chairman,” Selig responded.

Despite the committee’s frustration with Selig’s non-answers, he is expected to be confirmed quickly.