Senate confirms pro-crypto picks Michael Selig (CFTC) and Travis Hill (FDIC), signaling regulatory openness as agencies expand crypto oversight, ease bank participation, and push clarity around digital assets and tokenization.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Michael Selig as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Travis Hill as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), installing permanent leaders at two agencies that are central to derivatives markets and the banking system. Selig was nominated in October 2025 and confirmed on December 18, 2025, then sworn in as the CFTC’s 16th chairman on December 22, 2025, while Hill, who previously served as FDIC vice chair, is now elevated to lead the deposit insurer. These appointments come as Congress considers expanding the CFTC’s authority over digital assets and as bank regulators confront growing industry demand to participate in crypto markets and tokenization initiatives. Selig has positioned the CFTC as a front‑line digital assets regulator, testifying that the agency has coordinated with the SEC to clarify which crypto assets are treated as commodities versus securities and moving to provide guidance on tokenized collateral, capital treatment for payment stablecoins and obligations of U.S. software developers building crypto infrastructure. He has publicly criticized “regulation by enforcement” and has signaled a rules‑first, “principles‑based” approach that emphasizes clear rulemaking, inter‑agency coordination, and a focus on core market integrity issues such as fraud and manipulation, while supporting pilots for tokenized collateral and supervised spot crypto products on registered venues. This agenda is viewed by many industry participants as relatively innovation‑friendly, though some public‑interest groups have warned that Selig may be too close to industry and push through deregulatory changes. At the same time, the FDIC under Hill is expected to play a larger role in determining how U.S. banks can engage with crypto‑related activities, including custody, stablecoin payment flows, and tokenization of deposits and other assets, in coordination with the CFTC, SEC and Treasury. With lawmakers weighing market‑structure legislation that could formalize the CFTC’s digital commodity mandate, the combination of Selig at CFTC and Hill at FDIC signals a period of more explicit guidance and clearer pathways for compliant bank and derivatives‑market participation in digital assets and tokenization, even as both agencies maintain a mandate to police fraud, protect consumers and safeguard financial stability. "entities":["Michael Selig","Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)","Travis Hill","Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)","U.S. Senate","President Donald J. Trump","Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)","U.S. Treasury","Better Markets","Cboe Global Markets","digital assets","crypto assets","payment stablecoins","tokenized collateral","prediction markets"]}'}`

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

More coverage

• Senate Confirms Selig as Chief of CFTC and Hill to Run FDIC (bloomberg.com)
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• Tokenization
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• CFTC
• Participation