Here’s a quick crypto news round up for your morning commute.
CFTC Chair Nomination At Risk
President Donald Trump’s choice for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chair, Brian Quintenz, is facing an uncertain path to confirmation as the administration reportedly considers alternative candidates.
Quintenz, a former CFTC commissioner, was nominated in February and appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee in June.
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A vote was anticipated by late July, but the White House requested a delay without providing reasons. As of September 25, 2025, no further hearings for Quintenz’s nomination are scheduled.
The delay in Quintenz’s confirmation may be linked to Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders of Gemini, who have emerged as significant players in Trump’s crypto policy.
Their influence was evident at the July signing of the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin bill backed by Trump.
The ongoing uncertainty surrounding the CFTC chair position comes at a time when the agency is exploring initiatives like allowing stablecoins as collateral in derivatives markets.
With no clear timeline for a Senate vote on Quintenz or any alternative candidates, the leadership gap could impact the agency’s ability to regulate effectively.
Vitalik Buterin Advocates for Open-Source Infrastructure
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has called for open-source, verifiable systems in healthcare, finance, and governance to counter the risks of centralized control. He cited proprietary health tech, such as COVID-19 vaccine systems, as examples of restricted access and diminished public confidence.
Buterin praised open initiatives like PopVax, which reduce costs and skepticism through transparency, and emphasized that societies producing technology, not just consuming it, gain the most from innovation.
In a blog post published on Wednesday, Buterin emphasized the risks of relying on proprietary digital systems as they become increasingly integrated into daily life.
He cautioned that such systems are prone to abuse and can erode public confidence due to their lack of transparency.
Buterin wrote,
“Societies that thrive on new technologies are those that create them, not just consume them.”
He stressed that open and verifiable systems are essential to prevent global fragmentation and ensure equitable access.
In finance, Buterin contrasted the efficiency of a five-second cryptocurrency transaction with the cumbersome, costly process of sending a signed legal document internationally, which took him 30 minutes and cost $119. He pointed to blockchain-based systems and crypto wallets as examples of how open infrastructure can streamline operations.
For governance, particularly voting, Buterin advocated for secure, open-source hardware and software to replace proprietary “black box” systems.
He noted that decades of distrust in electronic voting machines underscore the need for transparent technology to ensure public confidence.
Hyperliquid Launches USDH Stablecoin
Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives exchange, introduced its native stablecoin, USDH, on Wednesday, marking the platform’s first dollar-pegged asset.
The stablecoin debuted with a USDC trading pair, recording nearly $2 million in early trading volume.
USDH provides traders with a stable unit of account and collateral across Hyperliquid’s network. Native Markets, a crypto startup led by Hyperliquid investor Max Fiege, former Uniswap Labs president Mary-Catherine Lader, and blockchain researcher Anish Agnihotri, secured the issuance rights through a validator vote on September 14.
Native Markets will manage USDH and oversee potential billions in reserve flows. According to their proposal, USDH is backed by cash and US Treasury equivalents, utilizing Bridge, Stripe’s tokenization platform, for reserve management.
Minted on HyperEVM, Hyperliquid’s Ethereum-compatible execution layer, USDH circulates natively within the ecosystem, reducing reliance on external stablecoins like Circle’s USDC and retaining yield internally.
The issuance rights for USDH sparked a heated bidding war starting September 5, when Hyperliquid opened its governance process. Native Markets proposed issuing USDH on HyperEVM, pledging to split reserve income equally between HYPE token buybacks and ecosystem development.
Competing bids came from Paxos, Sky, Frax Finance, Agora, Curve, OpenEden, Bitgo, and Ethena, though Ethena later withdrew and endorsed Native Markets.
Hyperliquid faces growing competition from Aster, a decentralized perpetual exchange on the BNB Chain.
On Wednesday, DefiLlama reported Aster’s daily perpetuals trading volume at nearly $30 billion, surpassing Hyperliquid’s $10 billion.
