Overview
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune initiated cloture on a package exceeding 80 nominees that includes Mike Selig for CFTC chair and Travis Hill for FDIC chair, with a vote expected as soon as Thursday.
- If confirmed, Selig would replace Acting Chair Caroline Pham and become the sole confirmed member of a five-seat CFTC due to a lack of additional White House nominees.
- The CFTC’s role in digital-asset oversight could expand under pending market-structure legislation, raising the stakes for who leads the agency.
- Hill, already serving as acting FDIC chair, has stated that banks face no blanket prohibitions on serving crypto firms if they manage safety-and-soundness risks.
- The FDIC’s influence over stablecoin issuers and crypto firms’ access to banking heightens the impact of Hill’s stated approach to “debanking” concerns.