Crypto-Friendly CFTC Chairman Tarbert Intends to Resign ‘Early Next Year’

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Heath Tarbert announced Thursday he would resign early in 2021.

The crypto-friendly regulator took office last year, and has overseen an expansion of regulated crypto products in the derivatives space, including ether futures contracts and bitcoin options products. In a public statement, he noted that ether was declared a commodity under his tenure.

“With the agenda I laid out last year now complete, the Commission can fully turn its focus to the unwritten future,” he said.

Tarbert did not provide a specific timeline for his departure, but he will leave as President-elect Joe Biden takes office after unseating incumbent President Donald Trump. Biden is already set to name a new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair, after current Chair Jay Clayton announced he would depart at the end of 2020.

Biden may also name a new head for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Currently the seat is filled by Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks, who has been nominated to serve a full five-year term with the agency.