CFTC chief says pending crypto bill will make US the 'gold standard' for digital asset regulation

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said the market structure bill moving through Congress would make the United States the "gold standard" for crypto regulation, arguing that clear rules are long overdue for digital asset markets.

Selig said the U.S. has lacked clear digital asset oversight and that new legislation would provide "token taxonomy" and defined jurisdiction to move markets forward.

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"The goal [of this legislation] is just to get some clarity. It's been too long with these markets just languishing, and they've fled offshore," Selig said Wednesday on "Mornings with Maria."

"Our country's best builders, entrepreneurs and innovators are really, for the first time, looking at a system where we can have clarity, clear rules of the road, a token taxonomy so we know what's the security and what's not."

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He said treating all digital assets as securities is an outdated approach and argued that many digital assets should be treated as commodities under CFTC oversight rather than securities subject to SEC jurisdiction.

Rules for prediction markets, including platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, would also be clarified under the new legislation. Selig said the CFTC has been regulating these markets for more than 20 years, and that he aimed to "embrace" innovation in these spaces going forward.

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"We're not going to be a merit regulator as the prior administration sought to do and ban these types of contracts ahead of a political election. We're gonna embrace it," Selig said. "We're going to set the rules of the road and we're also going to defend our authority in court where necessary."

Selig projected that a crypto market structure bill could be on President Donald Trump's desk "in the next couple of months" and praised the president's leadership and advocacy on behalf of the cryptocurrency industry.