The Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) got here out in protection of unique federal jurisdiction over cryptocurrency prediction markets like Polymarket.
It did so by intervening in Crypto.com litigation within the state of Nevada, the place the regulator seeks to ratify that future occasion contracts are regulated monetary devices and never video games of probability that require regional licensing. By definition, a future occasion contract is an easy monetary spinoff that’s settled if a selected market (indices, commodities) reaches a “sure or no” situation inside a given time.
This technical distinction, protected by the Commodity Change Act, goals to defuse authorized offensives by states searching for to impose their very own playing legal guidelines on platforms with federal supervision.
The company’s president, Michael Selig, deserted the standard bureaucratic language to put out his place in an opinion column revealed on February 16, 2026. In it, he warned that the CFTC will now not be a bystander to state makes an attempt to ban merchandise that the company considers reliable danger administration instruments.
“The CFTC will now not stand by whereas overzealous state governments undermine our unique jurisdiction by searching for to ascertain bans on these merchandise.”
Michael Selig, chairman of the CFTC.
Moreover, on February 5, 2026, the company introduced a movement to confess a short to the courtroom (buddy of the courtroom or via somebody near the courtroom) in help of Crypto.com (North American Derivatives Change) earlier than the US Courtroom of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, within the case in opposition to Nevada regulators.
This intervention marks the CFTC’s first direct motion in one in all practically 50 pending state litigations in opposition to exchanges and federally registered cryptocurrency platforms.
The core of the dispute lies within the very nature of those contracts. Whereas states like Nevada classify them as bets topic to their playing legal guidelines, Selig argues that they serve important financial capabilities.
Based on the company, these markets enable farmers to guard themselves from thermal adjustments that smash crops or small enterprise house owners to hedge in opposition to tax will increase or spikes in power costs. These monetary devices convert unpredictable dangers into manageable and predictable prices, bettering financial resilience.
Official financial capabilities with prediction contracts
Thermal adjustments are excessive occasions, comparable to frosts, droughts, warmth waves or extreme rainfall, that harm agricultural manufacturing. And, with agricultural commodity derivatives (futures and choices on exchanges like CME, CBOT, or ICE Futures), a farmer sells futures or buys choices to set a minimal promoting worth.
If a climate occasion reduces the harvest and raises costs resulting from decrease provide, the productive loss is compensated with beneficial properties within the spinoff, stabilizing earnings.
In that sense, there may be a radical change in fact on the US regulatory company. That is as a result of the brand new CFTC administration is dismantling the obstacles imposed by its predecessors, withdrawing 2024 proposals that sought to ban political and sports activities contracts, in addition to a 2025 workers advisory that warned of state authorized dangers.
As an alternative, Selig defends that platforms comparable to Kalshi, Polymarket and Coinbase function beneath strict federal supervision and doesn’t classify these devices as playing. Selig, named president on Dec. 22, 2025, has directed workers to reevaluate their involvement in litigation to defend unique jurisdiction.
The company prepares new guidelines to make clear the regulatory framework and encourage accountable innovation in occasion markets that combine cryptocurrencies and actual forecasts.
As CriptoNoticias lately reported, the CFTC expanded its Innovation Advisory Committee to 35 members, together with leaders from Coinbase and Polymarket. This enlargement, introduced on February 12, 2026, incorporates Brian Armstrong (CEO of Coinbase), Shayne Coplan (CEO of Polymarket) and different executives from cryptocurrency platforms and prediction markets, together with representatives of conventional finance (comparable to CME Group and Nasdaq) and lecturers.
This transfer reinforces the CFTC’s pro-cryptocurrency method beneath Selig. Though no fast regulatory adjustments have been introduced for now, if alerts start to be issued that the committee will information clear requirements for these merchandise.
