Calling the United States the “crypto capital of the world,” Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Mike Selig updated his agency’s ongoing plans to provide long-awaited regulatory clarity for decentralized finance (DeFi) developers, crypto derivatives, and prediction markets.
Speaking this week at the FIA Global Cleared Markets Conference in Boca Raton, Florida, Selig said the United States is regaining its leadership in digital assets through closer coordination among regulators. He said he and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins put “an end to the CFTC-SEC infighting by partnering on the Project Crypto initiative.”
During his speech, Selig reiterated that the CFTC would issue guidance to clarify how prediction markets, known as event-driven contracts in regulation, can list and trade products under U.S. law and would launch a rulemaking process seeking public input on how this rapidly growing sector should be monitored. Prediction markets are no longer a niche and have become a rapidly growing ecosystem of trading platforms that allow users to trade contracts related to elections, economic results and real-world events.
Selig said that because “market participants deserve clarity,” the agency intends to assert a more active role in regulating these markets and defend its authority over them amid ongoing legal challenges from several U.S. states. He reiterated his sentiment from last month that the CFTC should be seen as the regulator of these markets, and he “will continue to evaluate litigation strategies to ensure the agency’s voice is heard.”
DeFi developers and crypto derivatives
The CFTC, he said, also plans to address one of the crypto industry’s most contentious regulatory questions: “For too long, it has been an open question whether software providers trigger the CFTC’s registration requirements,” Selig said. “We intend to address this issue head on.”
The agency is also analyzing how U.S. law should address several crypto trading structures that have historically operated in regulatory gray areas, including leveraged crypto spot trading and standards for margined spot trading on exchanges. Last year, former Acting Chair Caroline Pham began scrapping old guidance on “real delivery” standards from President Donald Trump’s first term so the regulator could write something more friendly to the industry’s spot market practices.
The agency also looked into the classification of crypto perpetual derivatives, a dominant product in global crypto markets.
Read more: CFTC chief Selig to pave way for US perpetual futures in coming weeks
The CFTC Chairman also highlighted the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and automated trading systems in digital markets and the need for regulatory frameworks supporting innovation in these technologies.
Selig’s comments echo recent statements from NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin, who said AI agents will soon be the primary users of blockchain, and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who wrote on X that “very soon there will be more AI agents than humans transacting.”
