Quick facts

What it is

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulates the U.S. derivatives markets: futures, options, and swaps on everything from agricultural goods to interest rates. Congress created it in 1974. It oversees the exchanges where those contracts trade, the firms that sell them, and it polices fraud and manipulation.

Why it matters in crypto

The CFTC has treated bitcoin and other digital assets as commodities, which puts derivatives on them, such as futures, within its reach. Its authority over the underlying spot market for a digital commodity is narrower, essentially anti-fraud and anti-manipulation powers rather than a full registration regime. That gap is a central reason market-structure legislation, and the CFTC's own rulemaking, matter.

Who runs it

The CFTC is led by Chair Michael Selig, who delivered his first public remarks as chair on January 29, 2026. He has been the face of the agency's pivot toward crypto and prediction markets, and has said the CFTC is 'locked in and ready to ship' its rules.

Recent moves

In February 2026 the agency withdrew a 2024 proposed rule that would have barred certain event contracts, and a 2025 staff advisory on sports contracts, then announced a new rulemaking to set clear standards. Meanwhile more than a dozen states are still contesting prediction-market platforms in court. We covered the reversal in this piece.

On September 18, the CFTC sent a crypto market-structure proposal to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review, and issued no-action relief for certain passive software providers. See what sending it to OMB means. Selig has also said the CFTC will work with the SEC on a unified approach to crypto oversight.

Timeline

How it fits with the other agencies

The CFTC and the SEC are the two agencies the CLARITY Act was designed to coordinate, and after it stalled, their chairs said they would work together anyway under the 'Project Crypto' banner. In practice the CFTC leads where a product is a derivative or the asset is a commodity, and the SEC leads where a product is a security. Banking regulators such as the OCC and the Federal Reserve sit in a separate lane focused on banks and payments.

The prediction-market fight shows how the layers interact. The CFTC says these contracts are federally regulated derivatives, while states say sports contracts are gambling. Courts will decide whose authority prevails, which makes the CFTC's rulemaking important but not final.

What to watch

Key questions are whether the CFTC's market-structure rule is proposed and finalized, how the prediction-market rulemaking treats sports contracts, and how courts resolve the federal-versus-state conflict. Terms to know: event contract and perpetual futures.

Frequently asked

What is the difference between the SEC and the CFTC in crypto?

Broadly, the SEC oversees crypto assets that are securities, and the CFTC oversees derivatives and treats certain digital assets as commodities. The overlap and the gaps between those two lanes are what market-structure legislation was meant to settle.

Does the CFTC regulate prediction markets?

Yes. Platforms like Kalshi operate as federally regulated derivatives exchanges, and the CFTC asserts exclusive jurisdiction over commodity derivatives. States dispute that for sports contracts, arguing they are unlicensed gambling.

Who leads the CFTC?

Michael Selig is the CFTC's chair as of this page's last review.

Further reading

More profiles: SEC · OCC · FinCEN · Fed · OFAC · All of Who's Who · Glossary