Trump Picks SEC Crypto Counsel Michael Selig to Lead CFTC

Bitcoin Magazine

Trump Picks SEC Crypto Counsel Michael Selig to Lead CFTC

President Donald Trump has selected Michael Selig, chief counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto task force, to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Selig’s nomination, first reported by Bloomberg, marks Trump’s second attempt to fill the CFTC’s top post, following the stalled nomination of Brian Quintenz, a16z crypto’s global policy chief, amid opposition from Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss. 

Selig, who serves as an aide to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, has been instrumental in coordinating regulatory approaches between the SEC and CFTC on financial and crypto market oversight.

The CFTC, which regulates futures, swaps, and prediction markets, is gaining greater prominence as Congress considers new crypto market structure legislation. 

Before joining the SEC, he was a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, specializing in asset management.

Selig’s appointment will require Senate confirmation.

President Trump’s growing support for crypto

President Donald Trump also recently granted a full pardon to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, calling his prosecution part of the prior administration’s “war on cryptocurrency.” 

The move, confirmed by the White House, clears Zhao’s record and echoes a major shift in the government’s approach to the crypto industry.

Selig’s appointment comes as momentum behind U.S. crypto legislation accelerated this week as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the industry was “90%” of the way toward securing passage of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or CLARITY Act. 

Despite a partial government shutdown, lawmakers from both parties reportedly made major progress on the long-awaited market structure bill.

Armstrong met with senators from both parties, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Cynthia Lummis, and Tim Scott, describing the discussions as “very productive.” 

The bill, which passed the House in July with a bipartisan 294–137 vote, aimed to clarify which digital assets fall under the SEC versus the CFTC, while providing rules for decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins, and custody services.

The final sticking points centered on how to regulate DeFi and whether consumers could earn rewards on stablecoins. Crypto advocates urged lawmakers to target regulation at intermediaries rather than open-source code and warned that the banking lobby sought to limit yield on stablecoin holdings.

Despite procedural delays from the shutdown, optimism remained high. Lummis said she expected the bill to reach President Trump’s desk before year-end, calling it the most significant bipartisan step toward U.S. crypto clarity to date.

This post Trump Picks SEC Crypto Counsel Michael Selig to Lead CFTC first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.