Securities Regulation Daily Wrap Up, SEC NEWS AND SPEECHES—Better Markets slams possible nomination of Christy Goldsmith Romero for SEC commissioner, (Jul 8, 2026)
Organizations Mentioned:Better Markets | Digital Asset | Integrated Technology Group | Regent University
By Suzanne Cosgrove
Crypto-related groups leapt to Romero’s defense, saying the criticism is more about the Clarity Act than the former CFTC commissioner.
The consideration of former CFTC commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer as a possible nominee for SEC commissioner has sparked controversy, with Dennis Kelleher, co-founder and CEO of Better Markets, emerging as a leading critic.
Kelleher issued a statement on Tuesday that called Romero “unqualified and untrustworthy.” He added, “this looks like part of an attempted backroom deal by Schumer to deliver for the crypto industry by giving some Democratic Senators cover for voting for a bad crypto bill, which presumably would open the crypto industry’s vast campaign war chest for Schumer’s preferred Democratic candidates.”
As of press time, Sen. Schumer’s office had not confirmed he was backing Romero, a Democrat, but reports in Politico and on social media suggested she is a contender for an open slot at the SEC.
Currently, there are just two SEC commissioners, both Republicans, Mark Uyeda and Hester Peirce, in addition to its chairman, Paul Atkins. Peirce’s term expired in June 2025, but she has been serving on an 18-month extension. She plans to leave in November to teach at Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Separately, the CFTC is currently operating without any commissioners, with Chairman Michael Selig the sole regulator at the agency’s helm.
Romero’s background. Nominated by President Joe Biden, the former CFTC commissioner stepped down from the agency on May 31, 2025, after 23 years of federal service. Romero was a sponsor of the CFTC Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) while at the Commission, and under her leadership, TAC sponsored public forums on AI, cybersecurity, blockchain, digital identity, and digital assets.
Romero’s connections to blockchain and digital assets appears to be at the heart of Kelleher’s criticism. As he noted in a May 15, 2025, release, Romero cast the deciding vote in the CFTC’s decision to drop its appeal in the KalshiEX LLC v. CFTC case. In a May 5, 2025 filing, the CFTC asked the D.C. Circuit to dismiss its appeal in a case involving the Kalshi predictions market. The Commission previously challenged a district court ruling that the regulator did not have the authority to restrict certain event contracts based on political elections.
The decision to drop the case, made when Caroline Pham was acting CFTC chair, was “a failure of leadership, dereliction of duty, violation of the law, and a betrayal of the public trust,” Kelleher said at the time. “It also leaves in place a seriously flawed lower court ruling that will open the flood gates to all sorts of creatively engineered financial products claiming to fit within the gaping statutory loophole the court opened,” he said.
“The issues presented in the appeal remained critically important and should have been resolved as the CFTC originally intended: through the orderly appellate legal process. Commissioner Goldsmith Romero should not have tipped the balance and voted to cut that process short, subverting the legal process and subordinating the public interest to Kalshi’s profit maximization,” Kelleher said.
Crypto industry weighs in. Summer Mersinger, a former CFTC commissioner and current CEO of the Blockchain Association, a crypto industry group, defended Romero in a post on X.
“Christy is a serious regulator, a principled Democrat, and a dedicated public servant,” Meisinger said. “But this attack is not really about Christy,” she added. “It is about trying to slow the momentum behind Clarity [Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (H.R. 3633)]. Rather than having a serious policy debate on the merits of the legislation, Better Markets has inexplicably decided to launch a character attack.”
The Clarity Act is currently stuck in the Senate after a similar version was passed by the House in July 2025. The crypto market structure legislation, which creates a federal regulatory framework for digital assets and divides its oversight between the SEC and CFTC, is now facing a tight deadline -- the Senate’s summer recess begins on August 8.
“Calling Christy unqualified or untrustworthy is simply false,” Mersinger said. “And it is especially hard to square with the fact that Better Markets itself previously called her “uniquely highly qualified” and praised her experience across banking, securities, derivatives, and law enforcement in a July 2024 statement.”
Dan Spuller, executive vice president of industry affairs for the Blockchain Association chimed in, also on X, stating that “Better Markets was for Christy Goldsmith Romero before they were against her. 2024: ‘uniquely highly qualified;’ 2026: ‘unqualified and untrustworthy.’”
Kelleher responded that 2024 “was 2 years ago & lots happened since then.”
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