CFTC Chair: Will Issue Regulatory Guidance for Prediction Markets to Establish Clear Rules for New Types of Event Contracts

Gate News reports that on March 12, the Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Mike Selig, issued a statement saying, “Today, we are taking action by releasing clear guidelines for prediction markets to help trading platforms understand the CFTC’s expectations for listing new contracts. We take responsibility for ensuring that this asset class has transparent rules.”

In an interview with CNBC, Mike Selig stated, “Prediction markets are a rapidly evolving field, which is why today we are taking action by issuing some clear guidelines to assist our trading platforms. Our platforms will certify contracts independently and have their own rulebooks, and they need to understand CFTC’s expectations clearly. Therefore, we will publish these guidelines in explicit language for trading platforms to follow. Additionally, later today, we will also release a pre-notice of proposed rulemaking. We intend to establish clear operational rules for this new asset class and market. It is very important to ensure that the derivatives market is free from manipulation, insider trading, and various abuses. Therefore, we will take responsibility to ensure that these new asset classes have clear operational rules.”