U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Mike Selig published an op-ed on Tuesday outlining an aggressive push to modernize U.S. financial regulation, vowing to move away from what he called years of “regulation by enforcement” and toward clear, tailored rules for digital assets, prediction markets and other emerging technologies.
In a policy statement and accompanying op-ed, Selig framed the effort as a pivotal moment for American financial markets, arguing that advances in blockchain and artificial intelligence are enabling entirely new products, platforms and business models that legacy regulations were never designed to oversee.
“Advances in technology are transforming the financial services landscape as we know it,” Selig said, adding that Congress is now “on the verge” of passing the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would establish a formal market structure for cryptocurrencies in the United States.
If enacted, the legislation would expand the CFTC’s authority over digital asset markets, positioning the agency as a primary regulator for large segments of the crypto economy.
Selig said the CFTC is prepared to take on that role and ensure innovation stays at home rather than being driven abroad by regulatory uncertainty.
The CFTC’s ‘future-proof’ initiative
The President announced the launch of a new “Future Proof” initiative, under which agency staff will conduct a comprehensive review of existing CFTC rules (many of which were originally written for agricultural futures markets) to determine which ones need to be updated or replaced to better accommodate new asset classes and trading venues.
“The decades-old rules designed for pork belly and wheat futures do not contemplate native blockchain markets that trade 24/7,” Selig said. “The CFTC must meet innovators where they are.”
Selig stood in stark contrast to the Biden administration’s approach, criticizing previous regulators for applying legacy rules to novel products like digital assets and perpetual futures through enforcement actions rather than formal rulemaking.
That strategy, he argued, pushed startups overseas and limited access to U.S. market participants.
Under the new approach, Selig said the agency will focus on “the minimum effective dose of regulation”: rules that protect against fraud, manipulation and abuse without stifling experimentation. Future policy, he added, should be set through notice-and-comment rules to provide durability across administrations.
The president also highlighted rapid growth in areas such as prediction markets and digital assets, noting that cryptocurrencies have expanded from a niche experiment to a market exceeding $3 trillion in value. These advances, he said, require specifically designed, rather than modernized, regulatory frameworks.
“Anyone with a smartphone and an internet connection can now access peer-to-peer markets that operate 24 hours a day,” Selig said, pointing to both blockchain-based platforms and the increasing use of artificial intelligence in risk management and trading strategies.
Selig credited President Donald Trump’s broader regulatory agenda with creating the conditions for what he described as a potential “golden age” of U.S. financial markets. He said coordination between financial regulators will be critical as new legislation reforms oversight of digital assets.
“If Congress passes market structure legislation and hands us the baton, we will ensure these markets flourish at home,” Selig said. “The great innovations of today and tomorrow should be made in the United States.”