Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Mike Selig called the United States the “cryptocurrency capital of the world” and updated the agency’s ongoing plans to provide long-awaited regulatory clarity for decentralized finance (DeFi) developers, cryptocurrency derivatives, and prediction markets.
Speaking at the FIA Global Cleared Markets Conference in Boca Raton, Florida this week, Selig said the United States is regaining leadership in the digital asset space through closer coordination among regulators. He said that he and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins “ended the days of infighting between the CFTC and the SEC by cooperating on cryptocurrency project plans.”
In his speech, Selig reiterated that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission will issue guidance clarifying how prediction markets (event contracts under regulation) can be listed and traded under U.S. law and will initiate a rulemaking process to solicit public input on how to regulate the fast-growing industry. Prediction markets are no longer a niche market, but a rapidly growing ecosystem of trading platforms that allow users to trade contracts related to elections, economic outcomes, and real-world events.
Selig said the agency intends to take a more active role in regulating these markets because “market participants deserve clarification” and to defend its authority over them amid ongoing legal challenges in several U.S. states. He reiterated his view last month that the CFTC must be considered the regulator of these markets and that he “will continue to evaluate litigation strategies to ensure the agency’s voice is heard.”
DeFi Developers and Cryptocurrency Derivatives
He said the CFTC also plans to address one of the cryptocurrency industry’s most contentious regulatory issues: “Whether software providers trigger the CFTC’s registration requirements has long been an open question,” Selig said. “We intend to address this issue head-on.”
The agency is also analyzing how U.S. law should treat several cryptocurrency trading structures that have historically operated in a regulatory gray area, including standards for leveraged cryptocurrency spot trading and exchange margin spot trading. Acting Chairwoman Caroline Pham last year began removing old guidance from President Donald Trump’s first term on “actual delivery” standards so regulators could craft some guidance more friendly to the industry’s spot market practices.
The agency has also been grappling with the classification of crypto perpetual derivatives, a dominant product in the global crypto market.
Read more: CFTC Chairman Selig to clear path for U.S. perpetual futures in coming weeks
The CFTC Chairman also noted the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and automated trading systems in digital markets and the need for a regulatory framework to support these technological innovations.
Selig’s comments echo recent statements from NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin, who said AI agents will soon become major users of blockchain, while Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote on X that “soon, the number of AI agents will exceed the number of humans conducting transactions.”
