CFTC News

Democratic lawmakers called out Michael Selig for unilaterally advancing policies at the regulator that's normally led by a bipartisan group of five commissioners.

The CFTC is investigating trades that took place before the US delayed strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure on March 23 and agreed to a ceasefire with Iran on April 7.

Chris Giancarlo, who oversaw the first Bitcoin futures ETF approval as CFTC chairman, will now advise fintech and digital asset founders and boards.

The CFTC’s task force includes five members with legal and crypto backgrounds to help "clear rules of the road for American innovators."

The seven House members may have affirmed the commission’s authority over prediction markets, but they questioned its inaction on insider trading.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission claims it "first officially recognized" event contracts in 1992 and that Congress has granted it sole authority over the market.

Singh faced legal action from the SEC, CFTC and US Department of Justice after FTX collapsed in November 2022 but avoided significant prison time by cooperating with authorities.

Michael Selig summarized his first 100 days overseeing the commodities regulator since being confirmed by the US Senate in December.

“There’s a myth in mainstream media and social media that insider trading doesn’t apply in the prediction markets … That is wrong,” said CFTC enforcement director David Miller.

Prediction markets are facing increasing scrutiny over allegations of insider trading, prompting Kalshi and Polymarket to plan guardrails to curb potential incidents.

KuCoin’s parent will pay $500,000 to settle CFTC charges following a separate $300 million penalty in a DOJ case over similar conduct.

CFTC Chair Michael Selig signaled that the agency would defer to the football league in calling for changes to event contracts that could be manipulated by a single person.

The bill proposes to prohibit government officials from using insider information to bet on prediction market contracts, with fines up to double the amount of profits.

The regulator views timestamps and onchain identifiers as tools to distinguish real media from synthetic content, while calling for a light-touch approach to regulating AI agents.

The bill adds to a wave of recent legislative and state-level actions targeting prediction markets as scrutiny over sports betting, war contracts and alleged insider trading builds.