Michael Selig leads a single commissioner at the CFTC

Michael Selig leads the CFTC as the sole commissioner after President Trump appointed him to replace Rostin Behnam. The commission awaits Senate decisions on four new nominees to fill the seats that Summer Mersinger, Christy Goldsmith Romero, and Kristin Johnson left in early September. The commission itself needs to have no more than three commissioners from the same political party. Summer Mersinger will step down as CEO of the Blockchain Association on October 16, 2026, after the organization’s former chief executive, Kristin Smith, returns to lead the group. While the agency handles massive regulatory expansion, the current staffing situation remains pathetic. Caroline Pham shifted enforcement focus by ending secret charges and requiring written Wells notices. The Division of Enforcement must now provide an objective memorandum which contains a detailed explanation of the factual and legal foundation for recommendations and provides citations to evidence in the investigative record or stipulations by the parties as well as supporting legal points and authorities. Defendants now receive 30 days to submit a written response instead of the previous 14 days. The Division of Enforcement must also forward all Wells responses to the Commission regardless of whether a defendant requests it. Watch how Selig maintains this focus on customer harm.

Enforcement data and product roadmap

The agency moved away from technical errors to focus on fraud and market manipulation. On December 9, 2025, the commission ordered SimTradePro Incorporated to pay over $2 million in restitution to 100 victims. On December 19, 2025, the CFTC filed a complaint against Wolf Capital Crypto Trading LLC regarding a $10 million Ponzi scheme. Another consent order from December 18, 2025, required an individual to pay over $185,000 in restitution after a 15-year prison sentence for wire fraud and money laundering in May 2022. Regarding product innovation, the CFTC approved KalshiEX’s BTCPERP contract on May 29, 2026, to allow for the first U.S.-listed bitcoin perpetual contract. This decision aims to attract offshore trading volume back to domestic markets. Selig also directs staff to engage with developers of on-chain finance protocols to establish pathways for offering protocols in a legal manner in the United States. The agency also works on the supervised use of tokenized collateral and expects clearing implementation in 2026. Selig also requested comments on compute markets to develop a regulatory framework for transparent markets for compute capacity.

Regulatory rules and market structure

The CFTC adopted a final rule on December 18, 2025, to simplify requirements for swap dealers and major swap participants. This rule became effective on January 29, 2026, and replaces temporary staff no-action letters with permanent regulatory text. The amendments to 17 CFR Part 23 cover pre-trade disclosures, scenario analysis, and daily mark disclosures. These changes impact provisions such as § 23.431, which includes pre-trade disclosures like mid-market mark disclosures and scenario analysis notices, as well as § 23.504, which establishes swap trading relationship documentation requirements. The rule also addresses new and amended definitions in § 23.401, which include the definitions of ITBC Swaps and A-ITBC Swaps, as well as the definitions of Covered Transactions, Prime Broker Arrangements, and Qualified Prime Broker Arrangements. Selig also directs staff to explore designating unregistered crypto exchanges as crypto asset markets under the agency’s existing authority. The agency’s Crypto Sprint includes listing spot crypto trading on designated contract markets, which the CFTC expects to be operational by the end of the year. Selig also seeks amendments to CFTC Rule 40.11 to define terms like "gaming" and to provide clarity on event contracts. The roadmap for prediction markets includes a proposed rule to modernize the reporting framework for fully collateralized event contracts and amendments to Parts 38 and 40 to institute consumer protection requirements that provide clearer expectations for product governance, market design and incentive programs. Will the absence of a full commission hinder the speed of new crypto market structure rules?