The Republican chairman and top Democrat on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee are both asking President Donald Trump to name a full slate of commissioners for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — the agency that will have a central role in regulating the crypto sector as new rules are proposed and the market structure-focused Clarity Act progresses through the Senate.
Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican, and Representative Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat, sent a letter to the president on Friday, urging the nomination of four more commissioners — two from each party. Currently, the agency is in the highly unusual situation of being led by its Republican chairman, Mike Selig, who is the sole commissioner.
“As the Commission carries out its work, the public, the markets and the agency itself will be best served by a full five-member commission,” the lawmakers argued in the letter, which they’d said they were writing during a hearing last month. “This will result in better regulations, more durable rules, and more sensitivity to the divergent views of key derivatives market stakeholders.”
They noted that Congress and the White House are working to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act that “significantly expands the CFTC’s mandate to bring spot digital commodity
transactions under federal oversight, which would require a significant rulemaking process.”
Chairman Selig, speaking at Consensus Miami 2026 last week, addressed the issue, saying that he feels he has a responsibility to push forward as quickly as possible to get the president’s crypto agenda in place.
“Our statute does not require a quorum, which means that I’m able to operate as chairman of the agency and also vote on behalf of the commission,” he said. “We are looking to the president and the White House to consider other nominees, and I’m pleased to work with whoever the president decides to nominate. But in the meantime, we can’t slow down.”
The Trump administration has engaged in an unprecedented campaign to pull Democrats out of regulatory commissions and boards, including at the Federal Reserve. In some cases, those personnel moves have been challenged in court. And in the situation at the shorthanded CFTC, it’s become a significant question in the ongoing crypto legislative effort.
Demands that the White House fill out the CFTC has become part of the negotiation over the Clarity Act, which just advanced another step through its process this week, leaving remaining points of debate such as the CFTC’s vacancies even more urgent to solve.
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