THE SEC AND THE CFTC WILL HAVE THREE COMMISSIONERS BETWEEN THEM AFTER OCTOBER 2 — SEVEN OF TEN SEATS EMPTY — PEIRCE LEAVES ATKINS AND UYEDA AT THE SEC — SELIG IS THE WHOLE CFTC — THE SEC’S QUORUM RULE SHRINKS TO FIT

Hester Peirce leaves the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 2, 2026. That leaves the SEC with two of its five seats filled: Chairman Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's website lists one commissioner, Chairman Michael Selig, sworn in December 22, 2025, the same day Caroline Pham left. Two agencies, ten seats, three people.

The SEC wrote its rules for this. Its quorum rule says "if the number of Commissioners in office is less than three, a quorum shall consist of the number of members in office." Two people can act for five. The CFTC has been running with one for nine months.

Legal is not the same as settled. Peirce led the SEC's Crypto Task Force, and much of what bitcoin businesses got from these agencies this year came as staff statements, FAQs and orders. A policy made by two commissioners can be unmade by the next two. A White House official said nominations for both agencies would come "in the near future," Cointelegraph reported. No names have been announced.

Bitcoin settles a block about every ten minutes with no commissioner in the room. The exchanges, funds and custodians built on top of it wait on whoever fills these seats. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $83,941.