Key Notes
- Brian Quintenz is certain that Tyler Winklevoss tried to block his CFTC nomination with Trump.
- The a16z Policy Expert has shared messages on X to substantiate his claims.
- Many conflicts of interest issues continued to shape the odds against Brian Quintenz in the bid for CFTC Chair.
Brian Quintenz has accused Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini exchange, of blocking his nomination as CFTC chairman.
He shared this claim on X on September 11, referencing prior communications with the Gemini CEO.
Tyler Winklevoss and Brian Quintenz Conversation Takes Wrong Turn
Quintenz has reasons to believe that Tyler Winklevoss lobbied President Donald Trump against his nomination as the CFTC Chairman.
He shared some private messages, which he claimed were out of character for him to do, between himself and the Gemini executive.
“…I’ve posted here the messages that include the questions Tyler Winklevoss asked me pertaining to their prior litigation with the CFTC,” Quintenz wrote on X.
I’ve never been inclined to release private messages. But in light of my support for the President and belief that he might have been misled, I’ve posted here the messages that include the questions Tyler Winklevoss asked me pertaining to their prior litigation with the CFTC.
I… pic.twitter.com/MN75M1XUpT
— Brian Quintenz (@BrianQuintenz) September 10, 2025
Dated July 24, 2025, these screenshots had messages from Tyler sharing a copy of Gemini’s complaint against CFTC filed in June.
The Commission had initially filed a lawsuit against the cryptocurrency trading platform. This was for providing false or misleading information to a series of inquiries it made back in 2017.
The CFTC claimed that Gemini had misled regulators in an attempt to launch what would have been the industry’s first-ever Bitcoin BTC $114 588 24h volatility: 0.5% Market cap: $2.28 T Vol. 24h: $46.02 B futures contract.
In response, Gemini filed a complaint, accusing the CFTC staff of misconduct during the investigation. In the message to Quintenz, Tyler had tried to get his opinion, but the former only provided a neutral answer.
It turned out that the Winklevoss brothers were both “disappointed and surprised” by Quintenz’s lack of attention to the Gemini complaint.
Based on the content of the screenshot, both entities had agreed to pick up the conversation at a later date. However, there was no evidence to confirm if the conversation ever continued.
Based on this, he claims that Tyler Winklevoss contacted Trump, requesting a pause on his confirmation over concerns unrelated to their previous discussion.
Brian Quintenz Faces Troubles on Trump CFTC Nomination
At the beginning of 2025, President Donald Trump nominated Brian Quintenz, a policy expert at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Crypto, to lead the CFTC.
This was around the time when he also nominated banking expert Jonathan Gould to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and Paul Atkins to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
If confirmed by the Senate, Quintenz would have succeeded Caroline Pham.
However, internal emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request suggest that Quintenz may have had access to confidential CFTC information while serving on the board of Kalshi, a prediction market regulated by the agency.
Several important figures have commented on the situation, with some calling it poor optics and others questioning potential impropriety.
Tyler Winklevoss reportedly told multiple media outlets that the correspondence was concerning, stating that Quintenz is “the wrong person” to chair the commodities regulator.
Quintenz’s revelation hints that there may be more behind these public criticisms.
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