We spoke about the Chairman's upbringing, his time at the SEC and now the CFTC, crypto and prediction markets.
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The CFTC, which claims complete jurisdiction over prediction markets and derivatives contracts, wants to make sure that’s not the case moving forward.
“We saw FTX and we saw all these implosions of crypto firms, I’m concerned we’ll see the same with prediction markets if we keep pushing it offshore into the unregulated space,” he said.
“We’ve got to make sure these exchanges come and register here in the United States and that our rules are set up to facilitate fair markets, markets that have investor protections, customer protections, and have real guardrails and rules," Selig added.
Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have exploded in popularity over the last year, moving from niche homes to political markets to massive platforms facilitating event contracts for nearly anything you could imagine—sports, weather, geopolitical issues, and more.
Prediction markets under the microscope“I am surprised about it,” he told Sarmad about the state’s lawsuits against prediction markets, adding that, “I think the jurisdiction of the agency is very clear.”
The jurisdiction and regulation of prediction markets, as well as crypto and artificial intelligence and their relationship to derivative markets, is something that Selig said the agency is committed to getting right.
States “regulating by litigation”“We’ve got to get the policy right, and we’re committed to working with every stakeholder who wants to work with us,” he said. “What we don’t want is states and others suing our registrants to assert their authority in the same way that the last administration did with crypto, where they’re regulating by litigation and enforcement actions.”
“We’d like to work together to get the policy right,” he added.
