U.S. CFTC's Selig says AI has helped make up for staffing cuts at key crypto watchdog

Chairman Mike Selig faces explosive new market duties with crypto and prediction markets, where he said "numerous investigations" have begun.

What to know:

• The chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission defended his agency's shrinking staff by saying its leaning into efficiencies gained from AI and automation, even as demands on its time expand because of crypto and prediction markets.
• At a congressional hearing, Chairman Mike Selig said the CFTC is engaged in "numerous investigations" in the prediction markets, though he wouldn't say what his agency is probing.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is leaning into artificial intelligence and automation as it faces massive new oversight responsibilities, according to congressional testimony from Chairman Mike Selig, even as his agency's workforce has declined significantly under the administration of President Donald Trump.

About a quarter of the CFTC's staff has left since 2025, under Trump's demands that the federal workforce be cut significantly, according to agency records. But the CFTC is also being called upon to regulate new and rapidly growing arenas for cryptocurrency and the prediction markets.

"Tools such as AI are going to be very helpful in surveilling and bringing the investigations, and we're incorporating that into various workflows," Selig told lawmakers of the House Agriculture Committee at a Thursday hearing. When asked about the staff declines at his agency, Selig said, "we are running more efficiently and effectively."

"We're putting a lot on your plate with digital assets, and we're obviously going down this path with prediction markets," noted committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson. He sought an assurance from the CFTC chief that if he finds himself "in a situation where you know the need for additional qualified staff emerges" that he'll ask the panel for help.

"Absolutely," Selig responded.

He asserted that proper enforcement of the markets is a "top priority" of his, though the CFTC budget request for next year asked for only three more enforcement staff to make 108 people — still about 23% shy of the 140 the division had in 2025.

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act that the Senate continues to work on would elevate the CFTC into a central role over non-securities crypto trading, which would include transactions in leading assets such as bitcoin BTC$74,329.27 and Ethereum's ether (ETH). The agency is also claiming a dominant legal jurisdiction over the prediction markets such as at leading firms Polymarket and Kalshi, which are rocketing from levels measured in the millions of dollars a year ago to multiple billions now.

Selig's Democratic predecessor, former Chairman Rostin Behnam, had routinely argued that the agency would need more people to oversee crypto and didn't have the resources to police the world as prediction markets spread in depth and in a virtually unlimited breadth of contract topics. During Selig's brief tenure, the prediction markets have erupted in accusations of insider trading, a few of which have been addressed by the firms themselves. But the markets have drawn heavy scrutiny on certain trades around U.S. military actions and government statements that suggest small numbers of anonymous traders made significant money on correct bets, suggesting the potential for insider trading from people with government insight.

The chairman acknowledged "numerous investigations ongoing" in prediction markets, though he wouldn't quantify a number or discuss their focus. He said the regulated platforms are the first line of defense against insider trading, fraud and market manipulation in the hundreds of new markets (binary event questions) that emerge every day on the platforms, while the CFTC itself is a second line of defense.

"We regularly reject contracts," Selig noted. "We're actively reviewing what's out there," he said, adding that his agency has a "zero tolerance" policy for illicit market activity.

"Anyone who engages in that behavior will face the full force of the law," he said.

But Representative Angie Craig, the committee's top Democrat, argued that "the agency's workforce is stretched too thin," especially considering the agency's role as the "primary regulator of two of the fastest growing and most volatile markets."

"We must give the CFTC the staff, the funding and the clear statutory authority it needs to do its job," Craig said.

The personnel declines at the regulator includes the commission itself, which is supposed to have five members under the law — including two commissioners from the minority party — but which has been left by the White House as a solitary posting of Selig. The chairman was questioned repeatedly about that during the Thursday oversight hearing, including whether he'd proceed with major rules as a one-person commission.

"We cannot for the sake of the American people slow down our rulemaking," he said, suggesting he'll move alone on new regulations. The CFTC is pursuing a preliminary rule process to set up guardrails for U.S. prediction markets, and Selig has also pushed policy initiatives in crypto.

Read More: CFTC sues Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut over states' sports prediction market efforts

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