By Hannah Lang
(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's pick to run the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Brian Quintenz, on Wednesday accused crypto entrepreneur Tyler Winklevoss of lobbying the White House to stall his nomination after a text exchange.
In a post on X, Quintenz said it was his understanding that after the text exchange on July 24 Winklevoss and his brother Cameron Winklevoss contacted Trump and asked that Quintenz's nomination be paused.
Spokespeople for Winklevoss, the White House
and the CFTC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Tyler Winklevoss and his brother Cameron both donated $1 million in bitcoin to Trump's election campaign last year.
In screenshots of the text exchange that Quintenz posted to X, Winklevoss flagged a 2022 CFTC lawsuit against Gemini, the crypto exchange he co-founded, in which the agency accused Gemini of making false and misleading statements concerning a bitcoin futures contract the firm was pursuing in 2017.
Gemini paid $5 million to settle the lawsuit in January, but in June filed a complaint with the CFTC's internal watchdog arguing that the company was unfairly targeted.
"I'd like to understand your thoughts on this and how you plan to align with President Trump and the Administration's mandate to end the lawfare and make amends for it," Winklevoss texted Quintenz.
Quintenz, whom Trump announced he had tapped for CFTC chair in February, responded that the matter should be handled by a confirmed CFTC chair and said he would look into it if he got the job.
Quintenz's Senate hearing to examine his nomination was in June, but it has yet to advance to the full Senate.
Gemini, which is set to debut on the Nasdaq on Friday, did not respond to a request for comment. The company is targeting a market valuation of up to $3.08 billion.
(Reporting by Hannah Lang in New York; editing by Michelle Price and Nia Williams)
