Brian Quintenz, the head of policy at a16z crypto and a former CFTC commissioner, said Friday that new legislation was needed in Congress amid ongoing regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. and what's been perceived by some as a widespread crackdown on the crypto sector by the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

"We've seen the chair of the SEC take the view that all crypto except for Bitcoin, are in his jurisdiction and need to follow their rules," Quintenz said, speaking on a panel at CoinDesk's Consensus conference in Austin, Texas about whether or not a turf war was ongoing between the SEC, which regulates securities, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates commodities futures. Quintenz served at the CFTC between 2017 and 2021.

"A war involves two sides, and right now, I think there's one side that's on the field that's running down to the other end and spiking the football, because the CFTC does not have a seat at that table," he said.

(by Nathan Crooks)