Brian Quintez, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, published a text exchange he had with Tyler Winklevoss in his first public statement since his confirmation process appeared to stall over the summer at the White House’s direction, saying he believed that Trump “might have been misled.”
Quintenz shared a series of text messages he said he’d exchanged with Tyler Winklevoss, the co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange Gemini — which is set to go public this week — and Winklevoss Capital. Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler’s twin brother and co-founder, may have also been in the group chat, which was titled “tw-cw-bq” but did not send any messages in the screenshots shared by Quintenz. In the chat, dated July 24, Tyler Winklevoss asked Quintenz if he’d seen a post on X from June 17 where Tyler announced Gemini had filed a complaint with the CFTC’s inspector general about Division of Enforcement attorneys who had pursued charges against Gemini.
“I believe these texts make it clear what they were after from me, and what I refused to promise,” Quintenz said in his posts, representing a highly unusual move for a nominee in the midst of a federal confirmation process. “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.”
Before the Senate left Washington for its August break, Quintenz’s nomination was set for what was thought to be an easy procedural step in the Senate Agriculture Committee to advance it to the floor for his final confirmation vote. But the White House halted that vote for reasons it didn’t make clear at the time, though Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss had been waging a rhetorical campaign to stop his confirmation.
Winklevoss told CoinDesk in an interview in July that he’d been making the case that Quintenz was a bad choice because of the former commissioner’s wish to increase the CFTC budget to oversee the crypto industry, his past views on the legal liability for crypto developers and what Winklevoss characterized as Quintenz’s improper attempts to influence the CFTC on behalf of prediction market firm Kalshi.
Read more: Gemini’s Tyler Winklevoss Says Trump CFTC Pick Quintenz Has ‘Disqualifying’ Views
Quintenz’s post on Wednesday suggested that, in his view, Winklevoss was upset that Quintenz did not join in criticism of CFTC’s enforcement efforts after the agency pursued charges against Gemini that were settled in January.
“I know we had spoken about this in the winter where I recalled my original extreme disappointment at [the Enforcement Division] for pursuing this so aggressively,” a text from Quintenz said. “I commit to you to having a fair and reasonable review of the matter and the division and individuals involved to determine if they acted inappropriately.”
He went on to say that a “fully confirmed chair” should be the person to handle the matter, but that if someone currently employed by the CFTC was “communicating with” the Winklevosses, he would have to “give that careful thought.”
Winklevoss asked if Quintenz was saying that Gemini should have waited to file their complaint until after the Senate confirmed the former commissioner, to which Quintenz replied that “any decision or response to your complaint should be made by and given the full weight of the confirmed chair.”
The crypto executive said they had spoken about the CFTC’s enforcement effort against Gemini after Quintenz asked for the Winklevoss brothers’ endorsement in December.
“Cultural reform, which includes rectifying what happened to us, should be the highest priority,” Winklevoss said. “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.”
He added that he would “be happy to raise the issue with the president himself” if Quintenz thought he was being undermined by current CFTC employees.
Quintenz, Winklevoss and a spokesperson for Gemini did not immediately return requests for comment. CoinDesk could not independently verify the texts’ authenticity.
In July, a coalition that represented the vast majority of the crypto industry came out to press President Donald Trump to move forward to get Quintenz confirmed, calling him the “right person at the right time” to run the CFTC. Though the Senate has been back from break for a while and has returned to its confirmation work for many of Trump’s appointees, the committee hasn’t yet scheduled a follow-up vote for Quintenz
Meanwhile, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins has been pressing forward on an industry-friendly “Project Crypto” initiative while the temporary chief at the CFTC, Acting Chairman Caroline Pham has been standing in at the sister agency with a similar “crypto sprint.” The two of them have made recent joint moves to clear the regulatory path for digital assets.
