Brian Quintenz, US President Donald Trump’s pick to chair the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has made public several texts between himself and Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, suggesting reasons why the brothers may have attempted to interfere with his nomination to the agency.
In a Wednesday X post, Quintenz said he had released the texts over concerns that Trump “might have been misled” by the Gemini co-founders. The chain appeared to show Tyler Winklevoss sending Quintenz information on Gemini’s civil case with the CFTC, settled with a $5 million fine in January.
“The CFTC totally abused the deliberative process privilege amongst many other abuses to prevent us from even be [sic] able to defend ourselves fairly in court,” Winklevoss texted to Quintenz on July 25.
According to the prospective CFTC chair, the brothers were looking for certain assurances regarding what they called the agency’s “lawfare trophy hunting,” which he said he wasn’t willing to provide.
Related: CFTC pressured to probe nominee Brian Quintenz over ties to Kalshi
“I believe these texts make it clear what they were after from me, and what I refused to promise,” said Quintenz. “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.”
Cointelegraph reached out to a Gemini spokesperson for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Senate vote on Quintenz still pending
The texts came just a few days before reports suggested that the Gemini co-founders contacted the White House and asked Trump to reconsider Quintenz’s nomination.
Lawmakers in the Senate Agriculture Committee had been scheduled to question Quintenz in July before the chamber broke for a month-long recess, but delayed the event due to a request from the White House.
The release of the texts comes less than 48 hours before Gemini is expected to begin its initial public offering on Friday. The company is aiming for a $3 billion valuation as part of the offering, but it’s unclear how this information from Quintenz could impact investors.
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