US CFTC Chair Says He Will Advance Stablecoin Collateralization, Perpetual Futures, and Prediction Market Innovation

According to a report in The Economist, Michael Selig, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), wrote that the global derivatives market’s notional value has exceeded $1.2 quadrillion, with nearly half falling under CFTC jurisdiction. Amid the proliferation of automated trading, artificial intelligence, algorithmic execution, and real-time decision-making, the U.S. will not adopt a regulatory model based on limited trading sessions, single exchanges, and traditional screen-based trading markets. Selig stated that the CFTC has approved the first "true" Bitcoin perpetual contract as a futures contract, and is exploring the use of regulated stablecoins as collateral. Beyond crypto assets, a major U.S. exchange launched the first all-day gold futures trading service this year, and the CFTC is also discussing with market participants the potential development of non-crypto asset perpetual futures. He added that prediction markets fall exclusively under the CFTC’s jurisdiction, and possess value in information aggregation, forecasting, and price discovery. In response to nine European financial regulators’ claim that prediction market event contracts should be classified as gambling, Selig argued that this view misinterprets the structure of such contracts and overlooks their role in economic indicator and election forecasting. Selig noted that cross-border regulatory cooperation remains valuable, but international agreements and regulatory arrangements should be continuously updated to align with evolving market structures and technological developments. The U.S. will continue to set global standards by encouraging innovation and upholding market integrity, rather than waiting for broad international consensus to form.