Warren Questions CFTC Chairman Selig on the Agency's Ability to Regulate Prediction Markets and Crypto After Report of Trump Corruption and Industry Capture

Warren Questions CFTC Chairman Selig on the Agency's Ability to Regulate Prediction Markets and Crypto After Report of Trump Corruption and Industry Capture

"A CFTC with fewer staff members, reduced enforcement activity, and expanded responsibilities is a recipe for disaster. It leaves the public even more vulnerable to bad actors and our financial system even more fragile."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") Michael Selig raising significant questions about the agency's ability to effectively regulate prediction markets and cryptocurrencies and protect American investors amidst unprecedented presidential corruption. A recent New York Times report outlined multiple incidents that reflect industry capture and potential Trump Administration interference in the regulator's decision making.

"The CFTC has asserted exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets and is responsible for regulating some aspects of the cryptocurrency industry," wrote Ranking Member Warren. "As prediction markets balloon in size, and Congress advances legislation that threatens to loosen the guardrails on cryptocurrency, the CFTC's reported capture by industry poses severe risks to American families and our economy."

"According to recent reporting, 'in the past 16 months of the Trump administration, the Commission has shrunk its work force, purged career officials, sharply curtailed crypto enforcement and helped out prediction markets at virtually every turn,'" the Ranking Member continued. "Specifically, the CFTC reduced its workforce by approximately 25 percent…This has been accompanied by a steep decline in CFTC enforcement actions in the first year of the Trump Administration."

Ranking Member Warren detailed the Trump corruption embedded in the agency's decisions: "To make matters worse, President Trump and his family have financial interests in prediction markets and cryptocurrency companies … The CFTC 'approved a request by Polymarket after an investment by Donald Trump Jr's investment firm … You-as the sole commissioner of the CFTC-determined it would be appropriate to ask a judge to 'vacate the agency's $5 million penalty against a cryptocurrency exchange founded by (Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss),' who 'each donated $1 million in bitcoin to the President's reelection campaign."

The Ranking Member concluded: "Taken together, these are concerning signs of a CFTC beholden to political pressures and interests of the wealthy insiders, unbound by the rule of law and failing to protect investors and market integrity."

Ranking Member Warren requested information from Chairman Selig by June 18, 2026, including a record of communications between the CFTC and prediction market firms and a list of CFTC staff placed on leave after doing their jobs to oversee prediction market and cryptocurrency companies..

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