Futures markets and crypto high on agenda of agency’s new leader
Unelected doesn't mean harmless.
Michael Selig is two-and-a-half months into leading the independent federal agency that regulates the U.S. derivatives markets, including futures, options, and swaps.
Selig was sworn in as the latest chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Dec. 22, 2025, a couple of months after being nominated by President Donald Trump and then confirmed by the Senate. Now at the helm of the 52-year-old agency, Selig’s policy agenda includes deciding how aggressively to regulate prediction markets and whether cryptocurrency should be treated as a legitimate financial instrument.
Selig, 37, is a lawyer by trade. He’s an alum of George Washington University Law School and spent his undergraduate years at Florida State University.
IN FOCUS: ACCUSATIONS OF INSIDER TRADING ON MADURO OPERATION BRING PREDICTION MARKETS IN FOCUS
The Washington Examiner sat down with Selig for an interview at the CFTC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The new chairman outlined his vision for the future of an agency that has been thrust into a new technological era, one in which not only cryptocurrency and prediction markets proliferate but also artificial intelligence is increasingly part of everyday life.
Selig said he wants to see the CFTC be a regulator for “all sorts of interesting products.”
He added, “Under my leadership, I really want to lean into that.”
Before taking the mantle at the CFTC, Selig was the chief counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force and was a senior adviser to Trump’s SEC Chairman Paul Atkins. So, Selig came into his current role with a background in emerging technologies within the CFTC’s regulatory sphere and in examining how best to approach them.
Before his time at the SEC, Selig was a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, an international law firm, where he worked on derivatives and securities regulatory matters.
The SEC is often more prominent than the CFTC as a regulator, and there are key differences. The SEC is tasked with regulating stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, and other financial instruments, while the CFTC regulates contracts tied to future commodity prices, such as wheat contracts or oil futures, including options and swaps.
Agency transparency
First and foremost, Selig said, he wants to ensure there are clear rules of the road at the CFTC so that people know where things stand with the regulator. When Selig was in private practice, he said he saw his clients would suffer from a lack of clear …
Unelected doesn't mean harmless.
Michael Selig is two-and-a-half months into leading the independent federal agency that regulates the U.S. derivatives markets, including futures, options, and swaps.
Selig was sworn in as the latest chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Dec. 22, 2025, a couple of months after being nominated by President Donald Trump and then confirmed by the Senate. Now at the helm of the 52-year-old agency, Selig’s policy agenda includes deciding how aggressively to regulate prediction markets and whether cryptocurrency should be treated as a legitimate financial instrument.
Selig, 37, is a lawyer by trade. He’s an alum of George Washington University Law School and spent his undergraduate years at Florida State University.
IN FOCUS: ACCUSATIONS OF INSIDER TRADING ON MADURO OPERATION BRING PREDICTION MARKETS IN FOCUS
The Washington Examiner sat down with Selig for an interview at the CFTC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The new chairman outlined his vision for the future of an agency that has been thrust into a new technological era, one in which not only cryptocurrency and prediction markets proliferate but also artificial intelligence is increasingly part of everyday life.
Selig said he wants to see the CFTC be a regulator for “all sorts of interesting products.”
He added, “Under my leadership, I really want to lean into that.”
Before taking the mantle at the CFTC, Selig was the chief counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force and was a senior adviser to Trump’s SEC Chairman Paul Atkins. So, Selig came into his current role with a background in emerging technologies within the CFTC’s regulatory sphere and in examining how best to approach them.
Before his time at the SEC, Selig was a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, an international law firm, where he worked on derivatives and securities regulatory matters.
The SEC is often more prominent than the CFTC as a regulator, and there are key differences. The SEC is tasked with regulating stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, and other financial instruments, while the CFTC regulates contracts tied to future commodity prices, such as wheat contracts or oil futures, including options and swaps.
Agency transparency
First and foremost, Selig said, he wants to ensure there are clear rules of the road at the CFTC so that people know where things stand with the regulator. When Selig was in private practice, he said he saw his clients would suffer from a lack of clear …
Futures markets and crypto high on agenda of agency’s new leader
Unelected doesn't mean harmless.
Michael Selig is two-and-a-half months into leading the independent federal agency that regulates the U.S. derivatives markets, including futures, options, and swaps.
Selig was sworn in as the latest chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Dec. 22, 2025, a couple of months after being nominated by President Donald Trump and then confirmed by the Senate. Now at the helm of the 52-year-old agency, Selig’s policy agenda includes deciding how aggressively to regulate prediction markets and whether cryptocurrency should be treated as a legitimate financial instrument.
Selig, 37, is a lawyer by trade. He’s an alum of George Washington University Law School and spent his undergraduate years at Florida State University.
IN FOCUS: ACCUSATIONS OF INSIDER TRADING ON MADURO OPERATION BRING PREDICTION MARKETS IN FOCUS
The Washington Examiner sat down with Selig for an interview at the CFTC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The new chairman outlined his vision for the future of an agency that has been thrust into a new technological era, one in which not only cryptocurrency and prediction markets proliferate but also artificial intelligence is increasingly part of everyday life.
Selig said he wants to see the CFTC be a regulator for “all sorts of interesting products.”
He added, “Under my leadership, I really want to lean into that.”
Before taking the mantle at the CFTC, Selig was the chief counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force and was a senior adviser to Trump’s SEC Chairman Paul Atkins. So, Selig came into his current role with a background in emerging technologies within the CFTC’s regulatory sphere and in examining how best to approach them.
Before his time at the SEC, Selig was a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, an international law firm, where he worked on derivatives and securities regulatory matters.
The SEC is often more prominent than the CFTC as a regulator, and there are key differences. The SEC is tasked with regulating stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, and other financial instruments, while the CFTC regulates contracts tied to future commodity prices, such as wheat contracts or oil futures, including options and swaps.
Agency transparency
First and foremost, Selig said, he wants to ensure there are clear rules of the road at the CFTC so that people know where things stand with the regulator. When Selig was in private practice, he said he saw his clients would suffer from a lack of clear …
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