Restoring American Leadership in Financial Markets
During my congressional testimony in November before the Senate Agriculture Committee, I pledged to work tirelessly as Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to maintain the agency’s status as a world-class financial markets regulator. I’m committed to protecting our farmers and ranchers, rolling back outdated rules and regulations, and delivering on President Trump’s promise to make America the crypto capital of the world.
I am pleased to report that in the 100 days since I was sworn in, I have made significant progress toward these goals. The CFTC is rapidly evolving to usher in a new golden age for U.S. financial markets.
Many Americans have never heard of the CFTC, but the agency is one of the most important financial regulators in the world. The agency, which regulates futures, options and swaps, oversees more than $500 trillion in notional value of financial activity in the United States each year. These products are used by farmers who hedge their risks from drought and rising input costs, as well as airlines who need stable prices for jet fuel. On a more practical level, the CFTC helps ensure Americans have stable prices for things like groceries, gasoline, and other everyday products. The agency has recently seen increased interest in prediction markets and products involving crypto assets and AI data center computing.
Since I was confirmed to lead the agency, my approach has been simple: How can we continue to create strong markets for all Americans as we embark on a new frontier in finance? I started by reversing some actions and policies of the Biden administration. The agency’s so-called climate risk unit has been dismantled, and I have rolled back several other climate-related initiatives that make no sense to our agency or market participants. The CFTC is a serious financial regulator, not an agency used to pursue political pet projects.
The Biden era approach of regulating through law enforcement has also ended. Instead of working with innovators and job creators, the previous administration took legal action against them and refused to set clear rules, forcing the world’s most advanced technology companies to flee overseas, killing American jobs and businesses. Fortunately, the federal courts have dismissed many of these claims, but we are still working to repair the damage.
In addition to righting the wrongs of the previous administration, the agency has moved at full speed to meet the president’s priorities. To begin, I launched an Innovation Advisory Committee comprised of academics, financial industry incumbents, and new entrants, and revitalized the Agricultural Advisory Committee to ensure that farmers, credit providers, and agricultural market participants have a seat at the table. The origins of our markets lie in the trading of agricultural raw materials.
The CFTC was created to enable these markets to be deep, liquid and fair because our nation’s farmers and ranchers need access to strong risk management tools. Importantly, the agency is seeking to make changes to the Trader Engagement Report (COT) and publish it more frequently, a long-standing request from agricultural businesses. Under my leadership, we are restoring confidence in our producers.
Another key priority is reducing compliance burdens and energy costs for small businesses. To help, the agency is working to finalize de minimis Threshold exemptions to provide regulatory relief to producers of energy, agriculture and critical minerals who have not been allowed full access to commodity trading markets. This action will provide access to more market participants, who will work to stabilize and contribute to the decline of commodity prices in the long term.
As new asset classes emerge and with the possibility that Congress will soon pass legislation on the structure of the crypto asset market, the CFTC is poised to take responsibility for a $3 trillion crypto asset market that is growing by the day.
In January, we partnered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Project Crypto, creating a joint effort between the SEC and CFTC to harmonize federal oversight of crypto asset markets.
In March, the agency took several steps to improve the regulatory environment: providing a no-action solution to a digital wallet software developer, releasing the first crypto asset classification system, called a taxonomy, that clarifies the differences between digital securities and digital commodities, providing further clarity regarding tokenized collateral, and launching an Innovation Working Group, dedicated to advancing clear rules of conduct for U.S. innovators creating new products in U.S. derivatives markets.
The same regulatory clarity brought to the crypto industry is being developed for prediction markets, which can serve as powerful tools for information discovery and are regulated by the CFTC under the Commodity Exchange Act. Not only did Commission staff issue an advisory on prediction markets, but the agency recently issued an advisory seeking public input before considering new regulations for prediction markets.
I was honored to participate in the Trump Administration’s efforts to break from the restrictive regulatory practices of the past and create a derivatives market that works for everyone.
Our derivatives markets are among the most sophisticated and liquid in the world, and as financial markets continue to fully digitize and evolve on-chain, regulators must be disciplined enough to administer the minimum effective dose of regulation, otherwise innovation moves elsewhere and our nation suffers the consequences.
If the past is only prologue, the next 100 days – and years beyond – will build on this transformative foundation, with the CFTC remaining the gold standard for intelligent and effective financial market oversight.
Michael S. Selig was sworn in as the 16th Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on December 22, 2025, after being appointed by President Donald J. Trump.
