(Bloomberg) -- Brian Quintenz has emerged as a top contender to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on what could be a dramatic shift in crypto regulation under President-elect Donald Trump.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Brace for a Nationwide Shuffle of Corporate Headquarters

• American Institute of Architects CEO Resigns

• Cloud Computing Tax Threatens Chicago’s Silicon Valley Dream

• San Francisco, Paris Named Best Cities for Urban Transportation

• City Hall Is Hiring

Quintenz, a former Republican CFTC commissioner, has been interviewed for the position, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked to speak on background about private discussions.

He currently leads policy at a16z Crypto, the digital asset arm of venture capital heavyweight Andreessen Horowitz. Quintenz as well as a spokesman for a16z declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Trump transition didn’t respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

The president-elect’s team has concluded the interviews for the chair of the agency, the nation’s top swaps and futures regulator, and an announcement of the selection is anticipated in the coming days, the people said. Bloomberg previously reported that current Republican CFTC Commissioners Summer Mersinger and Caroline Pham were under consideration for the role, as were lawyers and former CFTC officials Joshua Sterling and Neal Kumar.

Earlier: Trump’s Crypto Embrace Poised to Elevate Agency in SEC’s Shadow

If selected for the position, Quintenz would bridge the worlds of digital assets and traditional finance. Before joining the CFTC, he founded and led Saeculum Capital Management, a hedge fund, and worked on Capitol Hill.

Galaxy Digital projects that total fundraising by digital assets-focused venture firms will come to $1.95 billion in 2024 — less than half the $4.5 billion a16z crypto raised for its fourth fund alone in 2022.

While at the CFTC during the first Trump administration, he pushed the agency to embrace new financial services companies, including digital asset derivatives as well as event contracts, which allow retail traders to bet on the outcome of nearly anything.

He’s gone on to push for more welcoming regulatory policies for both industries since joining a16z, including joining the board of Kalshi Inc., one of the first CFTC-regulated prediction markets.

His recent and past experience would be relevant as the agency prepares to tackle major policy shifts from President Joe Biden’s administration in its treatment of digital assets and prediction markets.

The cryptocurrency industry emerged as one of the most powerful political forces during the 2024 election, helping fund the defeats of incumbent members of Congress. Event contracts exchanges like Polymarket, which is unregulated, garnered public attention as ways to measure real-time voter sentiment.