The sudden rise of Michael Selig from senior regulatory adviser to frontrunner for one of the highly effective roles in U.S. monetary oversight marks a decisive second within the political battle over the way forward for crypto in America.
As President Donald Trump prepares to appoint Selig as the subsequent chair of the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC), the appointment indicators a pointy break from the enforcement-first period that outlined U.S. crypto coverage beneath the earlier SEC management.
Trump simply elected Michael Selig @michaelselig as CFTC chair.
Some explanation why that is GREAT for crypto:
– Beforehand led the SEC crypto process pressure– Was beneath earlier chair Chris Giancarlo who additionally additionally pro-crypto– Accomplice at Willkie Farr who focuses on crypto legislation.-… pic.twitter.com/j2xgwa23Ma
— One Good Jeet ₿ (@OneGoodJeet) October 24, 2025
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Authorized Pedigree, Crypto Dad Protege: Who’s Michael Selig?
Selig at the moment serves as Chief Counsel of the SEC’s Crypto Process Power and Senior Adviser to SEC Chair Paul Atkins, the place he has been influential in shaping the administration’s pivot towards a friendlier and extra structured regulatory surroundings for digital belongings.
His authorized pedigree stretches again by non-public observe at Willkie Farr & Gallagher and earlier to the CFTC itself, the place he clerked for then-Commissioner Christopher Giancarlo, remembered throughout the business as “Crypto Dad” for his early protection of blockchain innovation.
This isn’t a routine appointment. It follows a politically bruising failed nomination course of in September, when Trump was pressured to withdraw his earlier selection, Brian Quintenz, amid direct stress from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the founders of Gemini.
The conflict uncovered deep divides inside the crypto sector: venture-backed change operators urgent for institutional concessions vs. coverage strategists pushing for clear federal rulemaking.
After the fallout, the administration has turned to Selig, a determine considered as extra institutionally disciplined, strategically aligned, and fewer weak to factional seize.
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Why is Michael Selig a Important Selection for the Crypto Market?
His nomination comes at a pivotal second. The Trump administration has already superior sweeping digital asset laws, together with the GENIUS Act and CLARITY Act, which collectively purpose to formalize crypto into the U.S. monetary market construction fairly than deal with it as an adversarial novelty.
Below that rising framework, the CFTC would achieve main oversight of spot crypto buying and selling, classifying most cryptocurrencies as commodities.
The SEC would retain jurisdiction over genuinely security-like devices, tokenized equities, debt merchandise, and ICO-style choices.
The result’s a regulatory map that leaves the CFTC chair, not the SEC, holding the pen on how nearly all of the crypto market is supervised.
Selig has made his views clear over the previous two years. He has sharply criticized the prior regime’s “regulation by enforcement” technique, which introduced high-profile lawsuits towards exchanges whereas offering no actionable compliance requirements.
As a substitute, he has argued for the event of bespoke rulebooks, pathways to registration, managed market experimentation, and regulatory steerage that meets the business the place it truly operates, globally, transparently, and on-chain.
Bitcoin value reacted positively to the information, regardless of a backdrop of disappointing CPI knowledge earlier As we speak, with BTC USD buying and selling +0.84% at press time.
And market optimism shouldn’t be misplaced, for the companies that construct on this house, Selig shouldn’t be thought to be permissive however fairly as coherent.
However the appointment won’t come with out challenges. If confirmed, he’ll inherit a CFTC that has been successfully operating on emergency energy, short-staffed and led in interim kind by Commissioner Caroline Pham.
He shall be stepping right into a vacuum on the exact second america is deciding whether or not crypto markets shall be built-in, exiled, or allowed to evolve onshore beneath structured guardrails. Keep tuned.
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