Michael Selig Confirmed as CFTC Chairman
The Senate confirmed Michael Selig to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Thursday. Senators voted 53-43, with no Democrats joining Republicans to vote on the package of Trump nominees.
Selig will take over from Acting Chairman Caroline Pham, who plans to return to the private sector after she steps down. Pham has been a CFTC commissioner since April 14, 2022 and has served as the acting committee chair since Jan. 20, 2025. During her tenure, Pham has overseen early stages of crypto expansion including a recently launched pilot program allowing cryptocurrencies to be used as collateral in derivatives markets. The joint SEC-CFTC roundtable also occurred under her watch.
Selig’s confirmation comes as the CFTC’s crypto oversight widens and high-profile court battles play out between state gaming regulators and major prediction market players over sports event contracts.
One of the biggest unanswered questions from Selig’s confirmation hearing last month is whether he will weigh in on any of the ongoing lawsuits, or provide regulatory clarity around sports prediction markets, as CFTC chairman.
CFTC’s silence on event contracts
The CFTC’s most public acknowledgement of sports contracts came in an advisory released before the 2025 government shutdown. The advisory warned licensees like Kalshi and Robinhood to be prepared to unwind sports contracts if courts ruled against them.
What the CFTC has not done is file an amicus brief supporting the exchanges and brokers it regulates in these cases. Selig could stand by the line he took in his confirmation hearing to let the courts handle the legal questions around sports contracts. He could also bring the CFTC to weigh in on its support for sports offerings and add a powerful ally to embattled prediction market platforms.
Selig’s record on sports contracts is sparse. As a private lawyer, he helped author a letter to the CFTC arguing that sports contracts should not be prohibited, because they don’t constitute “gaming.”
Beyond a broad permissiveness for prediction markets, there are many unknowns about exactly how Selig will approach specific industry issues.
NFL raises concerns to Congress about prediction markets
While the NHL has partnered with both Kalshi and Polymarket, the NFL remains cautious about partnering with prediction market platforms.
In written testimony to the House Agriculture Committee on Dec. 11, NFL Executive Vice President of Communications Jeff Miller raised integrity concerns about event contracts. He wrote:
“These contracts fall outside the purview of state regulatory authorities and the safeguards they impose upon the industry, including information-sharing requirements, integrity monitoring, prohibitions on easily manipulated markets, official league data requirements, know-your-customer protocols, and problem gambling resources.”
Miller cited certain mention markets on what terms sports broadcasters would say as examples of markets that could be easily manipulated. The NFL’s integrity concerns are similar to those raised about sports betting before it became legal.
Integrity monitoring for prediction markets is becoming more advanced, but concerns remain. While Kalshi has a partnership with IC360 and a standard suite of responsible trading tools, the NFL won’t commit to a partnership until it knows prediction markets can reliably flag the types of activity that sportsbooks detected in recent sports betting scandals.
Selig’s CFTC will be at the center of these kinds of questions and conflicts as the industry continues to grow and push the bounds of what is fair game in derivatives markets.