CFTC Appoints Former SDNY Prosecutor and Digital Asset Defender as Its New Enforcement Chief

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig has appointed David Miller, a former federal prosecutor and digital asset litigation partner, as the agency’s new Director of Enforcement as it prepares for expanded authority over crypto markets.

Who Miller Is

The resume is unusual for a regulatory enforcement appointment because it runs in both directions.

On the government side, Miller spent nearly a decade in public service including five years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he was a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. He also served as a terrorism prosecutor for the Department of Justice. The SDNY background is not incidental. That office prosecuted the most significant financial fraud and crypto cases of the past decade, and someone who worked there for five years understands how those investigations are built.

On the private side, Miller was a litigation partner at Greenberg Traurig and previously at Morgan Lewis, where his practice focused on digital assets, commodities, and national security matters. He defended individuals in high-profile digital asset cases including those involving NFT platforms and insider trading allegations at Coinbase. He also served as a technical adviser for the television series Billions, which is an unusual credential but not an irrelevant one for someone being appointed to lead a division whose public communication matters.

The appointment puts someone in charge of CFTC enforcement who has sat on both sides of the cases the agency brings. That cuts both ways. Prosecutors who move to defense work often become more precise about what conduct actually warrants enforcement action and what constitutes regulatory overreach. Whether that translates to a more targeted enforcement approach or a softer one depends on how Miller applies that dual experience.

What Selig Said and What It Means

Chairman Selig framed the division’s direction explicitly: policing fraud, abuse, and manipulation rather than setting policy. That’s a pointed distinction and a direct contrast to the regulatory posture that drew criticism from the crypto industry during the prior administration’s enforcement-heavy years.

The practical difference between those two approaches is significant. A division focused on policing fraud pursues bad actors. A division focused on setting policy through enforcement actions uses litigation as a vehicle to establish regulatory interpretations without going through rulemaking. The industry’s criticism of the SEC and prior CFTC leadership centered on the second model being used extensively in crypto, creating legal uncertainty without clear guidance.

Selig’s framing suggests the CFTC under current leadership intends to route regulatory guidance through notice-and-comment rulemaking rather than enforcement actions. Miller’s appointment is consistent with that direction, given his background on both sides of digital asset litigation.

The Expanded Jurisdiction Context

The appointment isn’t happening in a vacuum. The CFTC is preparing for potentially significant new authority over digital asset market structures and prediction markets as federal crypto legislation moves forward. That expansion would make the Division of Enforcement substantially more relevant to the crypto industry than it has been under the current framework where SEC jurisdiction has dominated.

Some CFTC enforcement offices, including Chicago, have been depleted by retirements and staffing losses. Selig has committed to rebuilding those offices. An expanded jurisdiction combined with understaffed enforcement offices is a combination that creates gaps, and Miller’s appointment at the top signals that filling those gaps is a priority heading into what could be a significant expansion of the agency’s mandate.

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