CFTC Chair Mike Selig argues for agency's 'exclusive regulatory authority' in prediction markets fight: State of Crypto

Selig said states do not have the ability to police prediction market providers, echoing his agency's stance as it pursues court cases to cement its authority.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mike Selig told CoinDesk that the agency will continue to defend its "exclusive regulatory authority" to oversee prediction markets in court. "It doesn't matter if it's on sports, politics or anything else, if it's a validly offered product within a CFTC-regulated exchange, then we regulate that," Selig said.

You’re reading State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter looking at the intersection of cryptocurrency and government. Click here to sign up for future editions.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is just defending its territory in suing states over prediction markets, the regulator's head told CoinDesk.

CFTC Chairman Mike Selig, speaking on the sidelines of the Digital Assets and Emerging Tech Policy Summit hosted by Vanderbilt University and the Blockchain Association on Monday, said the agency's lawsuits against Arizona, Illinois and Connecticut make it "very clear … that the CFTC has exclusive regulatory authority when it comes to commodity derivatives markets."

Selig, who is speaking at CoinDesk's Consensus Miami conference next month, said Monday's Third Circuit Court ruling that the CFTC has to oversee prediction markets bolstered his agency's view.

Under Selig, the CFTC has embarked on a major litigation effort to bolster prediction markets' arguments that they are providing derivatives products under the Commodity Exchange Act, rather than gambling services regulated by states.

"Our view is that the statute is very clear that when you offer a swap on a federally regulated Designated Contract Market, that transaction, those trades, are subject to federal regulation," he said. "It doesn't matter if it's on sports, politics or anything else; if it's a validly offered product within a CFTC-regulated exchange, then we regulate that, and the states don't have the ability to nullify federal oversight and substitute gambling laws where derivatives laws apply."

Asked why the CFTC did not sue Nevada or Massachusetts — two states that have successfully secured preliminary injunctions against prediction market providers — Selig said that "I wouldn't say, just because these are the first states, that they'll be the last."

He pointed out that the CFTC filed an amicus brief in a consolidated case before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which will be heard next week. The Ninth Circuit includes Nevada.

Dodd-Frank swaps

Under the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC can regulate swaps and can block certain types based on whether they are in the public interest. These categories include war, terrorism, assassination, gaming, anything otherwise illegal or "other similar activity."

Selig said the main issue is that, under the law, the CFTC decides whether a product is contrary to the public interest. The lawsuits it's engaged in are focused on that aspect — regardless of the events underlying the contracts.

"Even if those categories of underlyings, whether it's war terrorism, assassination, gaming, and so on and so forth, even if we have to do a public interest analysis, or we choose to do a public interest analysis, that doesn't mean that that's not within our exclusive regulatory authority," he said. "And so that's what the cases are about, and that's what we're fighting for."

The CFTC is currently going through the formal rulemaking process to clarify its oversight of prediction markets.

"We're open to suggestions as to what that process should look like and how to evaluate it," he said. "We're certainly considering that provision of the Dodd-Frank Act."

Interpretative guidance

Outside prediction markets, Selig said the CFTC would review any comments on the final interpretation it published with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month.

"To the extent we get feedback on certain things we might change or need to reconsider, we'll certainly do that," he said.

More importantly, he said, the creation of a taxonomy means if any company wants to self-certify a futures product tied to a digital asset, the CFTC and SEC can just look to their guidance to ensure the token is not a security.

"To the extent you have a tokenized security, we're not butting heads on the CFTC claiming it's a commodity or the SEC claiming a different type of commodity as a security," he said. "We've got clear lines drawn in the statute."

The guidance was intended to be comprehensive, so both the companies and the agencies had examples, he said.

"We should be very much aligned across agencies," he said.

This week

Monday

• 13:00 UTC (9:00 a.m. ET) SEC Chair Paul Atkins will speak at the IMF-IOSCO conference on new technologies.

Thursday

• 14:00 UTC (10:00 a.m. ET) The House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing with CFTC Chair Mike Selig. There are not many details about the topic of the hearing — it just said it's "for the purpose of receiving testimony."
• 16:00 UTC (9:00 a.m. PT) A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel will hear arguments in a consolidated set of cases around prediction markets and state regulators. The CFTC filed an amicus brief in this case and will also speak during the arguments.

If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at [email protected] or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.

You can also join the group conversation on Telegram.

See ya’ll next week!

More For You

Most crypto privacy models weaken as blockchain data grows. Encryption-based models like Zcash strengthen. CoinDesk Research maps the five privacy approaches and examines the widening gap.

Why it matters:

As blockchain adoption scales, the metadata available to machine learning models scales with it. Obfuscation-based privacy approaches are structurally degrading as a result. This report provides a comprehensive comparison of all five major crypto privacy architectures and a framework for evaluating which models remain durable as AI capabilities improve.

More For You

The Fellowship PAC spent $300,000 with Nxum Group that was co-founded by Bo Hines, the chief of Tether's U.S. arm and former adviser to President Donald Trump.

What to know:

• The Tether-tied super PAC, Fellowship, has made an opening move in the U.S. congressional elections, and its choice for an advertising provider was a company co-founded by the CEO of Tether US, Bo Hines.
• The first spending is directed to Clay Fuller, the Georgia Republican who won a special election...

DeFi’s shakeout is a stress test, not a death sentence

30 minutes ago

Bitcoin may be forming a base at $65,000 as 'paper hands' have been flushed out

3 hours ago

Oil futures up 7% on Hyperliquid as Trump orders Naval blockade of Hormuz

3 hours ago

Market makers are fleeing public blockchains to protect their secret trading playbooks

4 hours ago

Bitcoin slips below $71,000 as Trump orders U.S. to join Iran in blockade of Strait of Hormuz

4 hours ago

Bitcoin analysts flag triggers for a massive surge to $88,000 even as war risks linger

4 hours ago

Tron’s Justin Sun slams Trump-backed WLFI for treating users as ‘personal ATM’ after $75 Million DeFi loan

6 hours ago

Super PAC tied to Tether makes first ad buy from firm founded by Tether's U.S. CEO

5 hours ago

Trump token sees whale accumulation ahead of Mar-a-Lago gala; senators raise questions over event

7 hours ago

Federal judge blocks Arizona from bringing criminal charges against Kalshi

Apr 10, 2026

Trump-backed WLFI token drops 12% to record lows after team defends multi-million lending position

Apr 10, 2026

Crypto perpetuals predict the direction of Wall Street’s Monday open with 89% accuracy, data shows

Apr 11, 2026