Senate Confirms Selig as Chief of CFTC and Hill to Run FDIC
TL;DR
The US Senate confirmed Michael Selig as CFTC chairman and Travis Hill as FDIC chairman, installing permanent leaders at two key financial regulatory agencies. Both are expected to bring significant policy shifts, particularly regarding crypto regulation and banking rules.
Key Takeaways
- •Michael Selig's confirmation as CFTC chairman signals continued crypto regulatory coordination with the SEC and potential expansion of CFTC authority over digital assets.
- •Travis Hill's leadership at the FDIC will likely involve relaxing bank capital requirements, easing crypto sector scrutiny, and rolling back certain Biden-era banking proposals.
- •Both agencies face transformative changes: the CFTC with prediction markets and crypto derivatives, and the FDIC with private credit industry growth and post-bank collapse reforms.
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The US Senate on Thursday night confirmed Michael Selig as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Travis Hill as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., installing permanent chiefs of two agencies that play critical roles overseeing financial markets and banks.
The CFTC traditionally regulates the swaps and derivatives markets but is on the precipice of change as lawmakers consider legislation that would grant the agency greater authority over digital assets.
The agency has taken several steps this year to embrace the industry, including clearing the way for spot crypto trades on futures exchanges and offering a path for some overseas crypto exchanges to legally offer derivatives to US traders.
Selig has already played a prominent role during the second Trump administration as chief counsel to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto task force and he is likely to continue efforts to coordinate crypto rules between the two regulators.
“Selig brings deep expertise in financial markets and digital assets, and he is exceptionally well positioned to provide the clarity, balance, and forward-looking guidance needed at this pivotal moment for digital asset innovation,” Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger said in a statement.
The approximately 500-person agency has also faced major change wrought by the explosive growth in prediction markets, after Kalshi Inc. won a lawsuit against the CFTC that allowed it to legally open trading on the 2024 presidential election. Trading activity on leading prediction market platforms has surged since then, despite opposition from some state gaming regulators and Native American tribes.
Read More: Prediction Markets Boom Mints New Class of Young Billionaires
Selig joined the SEC from the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, where he worked with a roster of prominent crypto clients, including the brokerage eToro Group Ltd. and crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, according to his financial disclosures.
The CFTC’s five-person commission has been vacant except for acting Chairman Caroline Pham, after several members left earlier this year. Pham is expected to depart the agency for a role at crypto payments firm MoonPay Inc. after Selig’s confirmation.
FDIC’s Travis Hill
The Senate also voted to confirm Hill as FDIC chair. He joined the agency’s board as vice chairman in 2023 and stepped in as the interim head following the resignation of Martin Gruenberg.
Under Hill, the FDIC has moved to relax bank capital requirements, no longer consider reputation risk as part of bank exams and soften its stance on risks tied to the crypto sector. The agency also this month eased leveraged lending rules that spurred complaints from bankers amid rapid growth in the private credit industry.
Hill has previously said he would focus on withdrawing “problematic” Biden administration proposals, including a plan to strengthen regulation of lenders’ brokered deposits following the 2023 collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.