Trump’s Stalled CFTC Chair Nominee Takes Feud With Winklevoss Twins Public

Brian Quintenz, President Donald Trump’s long-stalled pick to head the CFTC, escalated a spat with Gemini founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss Wednesday, publicly posting what he said were screenshots of conversations with the twin crypto entrepreneurs regarding their reported attempts to derail his nomination.

The images show what appears to be a text conversation on messaging app Signal between Quintenz and the Winklevosses on July 24. Decrypt reached out to a Gemini representative to confirm the accuracy of the screenshots, but did not immediately receive a response. 

In the conversation, the Winklevoss brothers grill the nominee over his reaction to, and enthusiasm regarding, a complaint filed by their crypto exchange Gemini in June over how the CFTC handled an investigation and eventual lawsuit against the company.

In 2022, the regulator sued Gemini for making “material false or misleading statements” to regulators years prior about its Bitcoin offerings. Gemini ultimately settled the suit this January, paying $5 million without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.

In the text conversation with Quintenz, the Winklevosses appear to take issue with Quintenz’s excitement about their complaint, and flexed their closeness with the president. 

“Our complaint raises serious questions and concerns about the culture of the agency that you are about to chair and its overall fitness on the eve of it being contemplated as a major regulator for the crypto industry,” Tyler wrote, according to the screenshots. “Cultural reform, which includes rectifying what happened to us, should be the highest priority.”

Per the texts, Tyler went on to quiz Quintenz about his commitment to that goal, and said he was potentially going to reach out to “the president himself” to discuss the matter.

“I believe these texts make it clear what they were after from me, and what I refused to promise,” Quintenz wrote today on X. “It’s my understanding that after this exchange they contacted the president and asked that my confirmation be paused for reasons other than what is reflected in these texts.”

Quintenz went on to emphasize his closeness with Trump and his commitment to supporting his agenda.

The CFTC nominee, who currently heads global policy at venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, previously served as a CFTC commissioner during the first Trump administration. Trump nominated him to chair the committee in February, but his confirmation has stalled for months. Days after the texts described above were reportedly exchanged, a Senate committee pulled a vote on Quintenz’s nomination, at the request of the White House.

In the weeks following the botched vote, top crypto lobbying groups urged the president to stand by his nomination of Quintenz, who is widely expected to treat the industry favorably at a crucial moment for its interaction with the CFTC.

Pending crypto market structure legislation would give the relatively obscure regulator extensive new powers over the vast majority of the digital asset economy and companies including the Winklevoss’ Gemini, which plans to go public on Wall Street later this week.