Michael Selig, chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said he will continue pursuing rulemaking even while he remains the agency’s sole commissioner, including work that could affect digital assets and prediction markets.
At a Thursday House Agriculture Committee hearing, Selig answered questions from ranking member Angie Craig, who highlighted the absence of the commission’s usual bipartisan five-member panel and asked whether he would refrain from finalizing regulations while serving alone. Selig responded that he would not delay action: “In the interim, we cannot, for the sake of the American people, slow down in our rulemaking. It’s very important that we get investor protections, consumer protections and safeguards for our markets. And so, I cannot, unfortunately, commit to not do my job that I was appointed to do by the president.”
Selig, who has served as CFTC chair and sole commissioner since December, has faced criticism from some lawmakers for advancing rules on crypto and prediction markets without a bipartisan commission. As of the hearing, the White House had not publicly announced nominations to fill the remaining seats.
“We’re going to do more through rulemaking,” Selig told Representative Don Davis, adding that the agency cannot rely on staff discretion to set rules.
In March, the CFTC chair proposed rulemaking that could change regulations for event contracts traded on prediction markets. Selig has argued the CFTC has “exclusive jurisdiction” over such markets while some platforms face state lawsuits over alleged violations of sports-betting laws and proposed insider-trading restrictions.
Several state gaming authorities have sued prediction market firms such as Kalshi and Polymarket, asserting those platforms offered illegal sports wagering. Representative Gabe Vasquez used a visual aid at the hearing to argue bets on event contracts and state-regulated gaming are similar but governed very differently, accusing the CFTC of exploiting “loopholes” that allow prediction markets to sidestep state rules and deprive jurisdictions of revenue.
“The CFTC was not created or intended to regulate sports gambling,” Vasquez said, and asked whether the agency is policing “real economic risk” or permitting prediction markets to operate as an unregulated free-for-all without consumer protections.
Some prediction market companies, notably Kalshi, have maintained they fall solely under CFTC jurisdiction. That position has yielded recent court victories in Arizona and New Jersey, where judges blocked state enforcement actions against Kalshi.
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