cftc

According to WIRED, Michael Selig, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated that the agency is using artificial intelligence technology to investigate insider trading in prediction markets such as Polymarket.In the past year, several traders on Polymarket have been suspected of using insider information to bet on geopolitical events such as the Venezuela raid and the Iran war, resulting in significant profits and drawing widespread attention.Previously, a U.S. Special Forces soldier was arrested for allegedly profiting from betting on the Maduro arrest using classified intelligence on Polymarket, becoming the first criminal case of insider trading in a prediction market in the United States.

According to The Block, staff from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued a no-action letter, substantially exempting prediction market platforms from swap data reporting and recordkeeping requirements.The CFTC's Market Oversight Division and Clearing and Risk Division stated that they would not recommend enforcement actions against designated contract markets (DCMs) and clearinghouses for failing to comply with relevant reporting requirements. This move aims to eliminate regulatory uncertainty for event contract platforms.The no-action letter currently covers 19 beneficiary entities, including Polymarket US, Kalshi, Gemini Titan, and Bitnomial.

According to Cointelegraph, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in support of Kalshi's appeal in its lawsuit against Ohio, arguing that prediction markets should be under the jurisdiction of the CFTC.The CFTC pointed out that Ohio's previous request for Kalshi to cease offering sports event contracts constitutes "jurisdictional overreach." The CFTC stated that if state governments can restrict sports event contracts traded on designated contract markets (DCM), their long-term regulatory authority over event contracts, swaps, and binary options markets could be affected. The outcome of this case will also impact prediction market platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.

Michael Selig, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated that the regulatory agency is communicating with all major professional sports leagues in the United States to strengthen the regulatory framework for sports-related prediction markets and to prevent insider trading and market manipulation risks.Michael Selig revealed at the FINRA annual meeting in Washington that the CFTC had previously signed a memorandum of understanding for information sharing with Major League Baseball, marking its first formal data collaboration mechanism with a professional sports league.

According to FOX reporter Charles Gasparino, the U.S. CFTC and SEC are currently in agreement on the regulatory boundaries regarding prediction markets and recent unusual trading related to the Iran conflict.Gasparino pointed out that although outsiders believe this area is solely governed by the CFTC, the SEC will deeply intervene when prediction contracts can legally be defined as "securities." He also revealed that, in addition to the cases previously announced, regulators may initiate more enforcement actions against prediction markets in the future.

According to market news, Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini submitted revisions to the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, requesting the removal of the provision in the digital asset bill that requires trading platforms to list only tokens that are "not readily susceptible to manipulation."The three companies believe that this provision will increase the difficulty of listing small-cap, low-liquidity tokens and could be used by future CFTC chairs as a tool for tightening regulation. The current draft aims to grant the CFTC broader powers over the spot markets for "digital commodities" such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Senate Agriculture Committee has already passed the relevant sections along party lines, and further significant modifications will be made to gain support from the Democrats.

Michael Selig, the chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated at the Consensus 2026 conference that the CFTC has filed lawsuits against regulatory agencies in about five to six states, including Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, and New York, with the core dispute being the jurisdiction over prediction markets.He mentioned that if different circuit courts issue conflicting rulings, the related cases may ultimately be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Michael Selig stated that the Commodity Exchange Act clearly grants the CFTC exclusive regulatory authority over commodity derivatives, and that prediction market event contracts are financial derivatives traded on federally regulated exchanges, which are fundamentally different from traditional gaming venue models.He believes that some state-level regulatory agencies are attempting to challenge the validity of federal law through local regulations, and the CFTC will continue to file lawsuits against such actions.

According to The Block, Kraken has launched CFTC-regulated crypto spot margin trading services for U.S. retail users just days after its parent company acquired the Bitnomial derivatives platform.Such products have largely been unavailable to U.S. retail users, forcing them to turn to offshore platforms. Kraken stated that users can use their crypto assets as collateral for trading with up to 10 times leverage without having to sell them.This launch follows the announcement made on Monday that Kraken's parent company Payward has completed the acquisition of Bitnomial. Bitnomial is a Chicago-based crypto derivatives exchange that holds licenses as a matching entity, contract party, and clearinghouse issued by the CFTC.Payward stated that this acquisition will ultimately enable it to offer regulated spot margin, perpetual futures, and options products to U.S. users. This move also strengthens Kraken's position in regulated derivatives infrastructure in preparation for a potential public listing.Payward has submitted a confidential S-1 registration draft to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in November. The trading platform is also continuing to expand its institutional and derivatives business in the UK and Europe following its $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader in March 2025.

According to The Block, Michael Selig, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated that the CFTC is considering establishing rules to solidify its protective stance towards non-custodial software developers. In March of this year, the CFTC issued a no-action letter regarding the cryptocurrency wallet Phantom, indicating that it would not take enforcement action for not being registered as a broker and clarified that eligible self-custody wallet software developers do not need to register as brokers. Selig mentioned that the CFTC is seeking to formally incorporate this stance into rulemaking.Additionally, Selig reiterated that prediction markets fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the CFTC and that it will continue to sue states that violate federal jurisdiction. The CFTC has previously sued Wisconsin, Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, and New York.

According to The Information, Michael Selig, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced that the agency is pushing to limit state interventions in prediction markets to prevent state-level regulatory measures from hindering or even stifling the industry's development.Reports indicate that Michael Selig is a sports fan himself and has a large number of sports memorabilia in his office, which is seen as a reflection of his long-term interest in sports prediction markets. Since taking office several months ago, he has quickly begun related work, attempting to create a more relaxed federal regulatory environment for prediction markets, allowing more American users to participate in prediction trading for sports events and other outcomes.

According to The Information, Michael Selig, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), is working to limit state enforcement interventions on prediction markets to prevent state-level regulatory measures from hindering industry development.Since taking office several months ago, Michael Selig has been trying to create a more lenient federal regulatory environment for prediction markets, allowing more American users to participate in trading on sports events and other outcomes. Over the past year, Selig has consistently advocated for prediction markets—issuing a warning in February about suing state governments attempting to intervene in regulation, releasing compliance guidelines in March and publicly soliciting industry feedback, and stating this month that if prediction markets are pushed offshore, it would lead to a repeat of the FTX-style collapse.

The venture capital firm a16z supports the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and opposes a series of crackdowns by various states on prediction markets. On Friday, a16z submitted an 18-page comment letter to the CFTC, stating that the actions taken by state regulators against prediction market platforms—including cease-and-desist orders and proposed bans—are creating "serious barriers to fair access" for users.In just the past month, the CFTC has filed a series of lawsuits against Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, New York, and Wisconsin, claiming that these states are attempting to regulate markets overseen by the federal government, which exceeds their jurisdiction. a16z argues that requiring trading platforms to block U.S. users based on their state of residence conflicts with the CFTC's rules on fair market access. The company wrote, "Being forced to deny fair access to users from states seeking to license or ban certain event contracts could severely compress available liquidity."CFTC Chairman Mike Selig asserts that the event contracts of prediction markets fall under swap contracts, placing them within the CFTC's "exclusive jurisdiction." State regulators and state attorneys general counter that platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket offer unlicensed gambling products. a16z also discussed the utility provided by what it calls prediction markets, stating that their pricing mechanism is a "unique form of price discovery" that helps "reveal the probabilities of uncertain events." The company further argues that blockchain-based prediction markets are more transparent than traditional platforms, claiming that "the auditability of on-chain transactions" makes it easier for participants and regulators to oversee.In April, the prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi surpassed a cumulative trading volume of $15 billion.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) stated in a letter to the CFTC that state regulations on prediction markets are creating "barriers to fair access" and may weaken market liquidity.a16z pointed out that requiring platforms to restrict user access by state will affect market uniformity and conflict with the federal principle of fair access. At the same time, frequent bans and enforcement actions may also compress overall trading depth. The agency emphasized that prediction markets play an important role in information discovery and probability pricing, supporting unified federal regulation. The CFTC, on the other hand, insists that the relevant contracts fall under its exclusive regulatory scope.

Miles Jennings, the policy head and general counsel of a16z Crypto, and others wrote "Getting prediction market regulation right," which points out that the current push by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to reform the regulatory framework for prediction markets is at a critical juncture, as prediction markets are transitioning from niche products to important infrastructure.With the integration of AI and blockchain-driven new risk management models, prediction markets can enable AI agents to automatically hedge risks, adjust on-chain event contract positions in real-time, and play a core role in risk management, information aggregation, and authenticity judgment. a16z Crypto believes that if the regulatory framework is too conservative, it will limit the development potential of prediction markets. Therefore, they have submitted a comment letter providing opinions on key issues such as the application of statutory core principles and CFTC regulations in prediction markets, and public interest considerations related to event contracts. They also proposed five regulatory recommendations for prediction markets, including: the CFTC implementing unified regulatory authority over event contracts, optimizing contract dispute resolution mechanisms, strengthening monitoring of insider trading and market manipulation, re-evaluating "special rules," and exploring clearer compliance pathways for on-chain prediction markets.

According to The Block, Gemini's Olympus division has officially obtained a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) license issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), allowing it to act as an internal clearinghouse for settlement, risk management, and collateral management without relying on third-party clearing, which is expected to reduce operational costs.Combined with the previously obtained Designated Contract Market (DCM) license, Gemini is now capable of conducting full-stack compliant operations in the fields of futures, options, perpetual contracts, and prediction markets. Currently, Gemini is further applying for a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) license to complete its full suite of CFTC qualifications and compete directly with Kraken and Coinbase.

The Hyperliquid Policy Center (HPC) announced that it has formally submitted a comment letter regarding the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on prediction markets, advocating for the establishment of a clear compliance path for decentralized prediction markets based on public, permissionless blockchains while improving the regulatory framework for centralized prediction markets.In the comment letter, HPC calls on the CFTC to develop more flexible, function-oriented rules to accommodate decentralized market structures; to establish clear legal channels for U.S. market participants to access decentralized prediction markets; and to promote the U.S. leading position in decentralized financial innovation. HPC stated that prediction markets are a natural extension of the federal derivatives framework, helping participants directly manage their economic risk exposure to real-world events and aggregating dispersed information through continuously updated market prices, whose price discovery capabilities have been widely validated, even outperforming traditional polls and expert forecasts.It pointed out that decentralized prediction markets based on public blockchains have advantages such as transparency, non-custodial nature, and high resilience, not relying on centralized operators to hold user funds, and there is no single point of failure risk; all transactions are recorded in real-time on a public ledger, facilitating regulation and market oversight, while market access standards are more transparent and uniform.HPC emphasized that current rulemaking should not solidify reliance on a single exchange operator, custodial intermediaries, and traditional settlement monitoring mechanisms, as this would hinder U.S. users' legitimate participation in decentralized prediction markets. It stated that it will continue to promote compliance access for U.S. market participants to Hyperliquid and HIP-4 outcome markets and will maintain communication with the CFTC.

According to Cointelegraph, Polymarket is in communication with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to seek the reopening of its main platform to U.S. users. If approved, this could mean that the restrictions on U.S. users, which have been in place since its settlement with the CFTC in 2022, may be lifted.The report states that Polymarket has previously made a limited return to the U.S. market through the regulated QCEX framework, and if a full return is achieved, it will further intensify the competitive landscape of prediction markets in the U.S.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Wisconsin on Tuesday, accusing the governor, attorney general, and state officials of attempting to use state laws to crack down on prediction market platforms.Recently, Wisconsin has sued platforms such as Coinbase, Robinhood, Crypto.com, Polymarket, and Kalshi, claiming that their sports event contracts constitute "public nuisance." The CFTC strongly asserts exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets (event contracts), arguing that the state government's attempt to criminalize federally regulated markets infringes upon the national swap market regulatory framework designed by Congress, and is seeking a court order to declare that Wisconsin's ban is superseded by federal law on CFTC-regulated platforms.

According to Bloomberg, Polymarket seeks CFTC approval to bring its main trading platform to the United States.