Venture capital firm andreessen horowitz (a16z) has appointed brian quintenz as its head of policy. quintenz was formerly a commissioner of the commodity futures trading commission (cftc) under both former presidents obama and trump. anthony albanese, a16z managing partner, said that more regulation is needed in certain areas of crypto and web3.
Appointment of brian quintenz as head of policy at a16z took place in september 2021. during his tenure at the cftc, quintenz oversaw the listing of bitcoin futures contracts in the u.s. market and the creation of tokenized commodities. in addition, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren and new york representative alexandria ocasio-cortez raised concerns in october about the crypto sector’s lobbying efforts.
First joined a16z as a senior advisor in september 2021. during the september interview, quintenz opined that the regulatory environment for crypto in its current form is cumbersome. albanese said that it has never been more crucial than today for impactful legislation. the lawmakers raised concerns about the risks of “corrupting the policymaking process and undermining the public’s trust in our financial regulators.” quintenz specifically called out the u.s. securities and exchange commission (sec) and its chair gary gensler, and said that the sec could do things that allowed for a kind of securities-like regulatory structure to exist.
