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The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is planning to introduce new rules on prediction markets, as platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi attract billions of dollars in transactions by allowing traders to bet yes or no on everything from politics to pop culture.
At first Public words As Chairman of the CFTC on Thursday, Michael Selig said the agency will pursue clear standards for contracts, a group the CFTC has overseen for more than two decades.
“It’s time for clear rules and understanding that the CFTC supports new rules in these markets,” Selig said in a prepared statement. “In line with my commitment to promoting innovation in the crypto-asset markets, I continue to support the proper development of the trading markets.”
PolyMarket is known as a financial center for political and real-time events
The prediction markets have seen a huge rise in the appearance of cryptocurrency platforms and US-led companies competing with traders who want constant exposure to 24-hour news.
PolyMarket, in particular, has gotten a lot of money from politics and recent events, while other markets attract millions to hundreds of millions in sales.
Selig framed many of his goals as enforcing transparency and cooperation among agencies, positioning the CFTC as a forward-looking regulator that could change rules without creating new ones.
He also used the term to focus on technical interest in the regulation of the cryptocurrency market, describing the moment as a historic opportunity to reform the way the United States manages digital currency.
“Today is the beginning of a new chapter for the CFTC,” he said, adding that the agency will focus its efforts on “regulatory clarity, interagency cooperation, and open innovation.”
Event contracts are about to have formal rules
He also said that he is cooperating with the SEC on Project Crypto, an effort that he described as a way to bring coordination between the government by clarifying the lines of authority, reducing fragmentation, and establishing a clear policy for crypto assets.
“Thanks to President Trump’s administration, Operation Chokepoint 2.0 is a thing of the past, control through coercion is over, the GENIUS Act is in effect, Congress is on the verge of passing market regulation, and the United States is now the world’s cryptocurrency capital,” Selig said.
Referring to the prediction markets in particular, he explained the processes that lead to complete replication. He also said that he ordered the workers to withdraw the proposed law in 2024 that would have banned political and sports contracts, as well as the 2025 workers directive that warned registrants not to give sports contracts because of lawsuits.
“Secondly, looking to the future, and in the spirit of trading markets on expectations, I led the CFTC staff to go ahead and write the rules for the contracts event,” He said, arguing that the current framework has proven to be difficult to implement and has left market participants with little certainty.
He added that the agency will review its involvement in pending litigation and will work with the SEC on joint interpretations related to the definitions of Title VII, with the goal of drawing clear lines between value options and securities, CFTC-regulated swaps, and SEC-regulated securities-based swaps.
The move comes amid increased activity, as some state gambling regulators oppose the spread of event-based marketing. For the CFTC, Selig’s message was that the prediction markets were no longer a thing, and that the next step would depend on Washington’s ability to create laws that would keep these contracts within the United States, legal, and easy to sell.
A note The CFTC has announced new rules for prediction markets like PolyMarket and Calcci appeared for the first time Cryptonews Arabic.