CFTC Announces Innovation Advisory Committee
What is the CFTC?
The CFTC is the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It's a US federal agency created in 1974.
Its job is to regulate derivatives markets. That includes futures contracts, options, and swaps. If a farmer wants to lock in the price of corn six months from now, or a bank wants to hedge interest rate risk, those trades fall under the CFTC's watch.
In simple terms: the SEC regulates stocks. The CFTC regulates bets on future prices of things like oil, gold, wheat, and increasingly, crypto.
The CFTC has been at the center of crypto regulation debates because many digital assets (especially Bitcoin) could be classified as commodities, not securities. That puts them in the CFTC's jurisdiction. The agency has been one of the more active regulators in the crypto space, both in enforcement actions and in trying to figure out how these new markets should work.
It also oversees prediction markets and derivatives exchanges, which is why you see companies like Kalshi, Polymarket, DraftKings, and FanDuel connected to this announcement.
What happened:
The CFTC announced a new Innovation Advisory Committee (IAC) with 35 members. On paper, that sounds like standard government bureaucracy. In practice, look at who's on it.
What is the IAC?
It's a formal advisory group that helps the CFTC understand how new technology is changing financial markets. The committee advises the agency on things like blockchain, AI, and new trading products. Their input shapes how the CFTC writes rules and regulations going forward.
Think of it as a room where the regulator sits down with the people actually building and running markets, and asks: "What should we know before we write the next set of rules?"
Who's in the room:
This is where it gets interesting. The committee reads like a who's-who of both traditional finance and crypto.
From crypto: Brian Armstrong (Coinbase), Hayden Adams (Uniswap), Vlad Tenev (Robinhood), Brad Garlinghouse (Ripple), Tyler Winklevoss (Gemini), Arjun Sethi (Kraken), Sergey Nazarov (Chainlink), Anatoly Yakovenko (Solana Labs), Chris Dixon (a16z Crypto), Peter Smith (Blockchain.com), Shayne Coplan (Polymarket), Kris Marszalek (Crypto.com), and Peter Mintzberg (Grayscale).
From traditional finance: Adena Friedman (Nasdaq CEO), Terry Duffy (CME Group CEO), Craig Donohue (Cboe CEO), Jeff Sprecher (ICE CEO), David Schwimmer (London Stock Exchange Group CEO), Frank LaSalla (DTCC CEO), and Scott O'Malia (ISDA CEO).
Plus prediction market and sports betting CEOs from Kalshi, DraftKings, and FanDuel.
Why this matters:
Two years ago, crypto founders were getting subpoenas from regulators. Now they're sitting on a formal advisory committee helping shape the next generation of rules.
This is the CFTC acknowledging that blockchain and crypto are not going away. Instead of regulating from the outside looking in, they're bringing the builders into the conversation. Chairman Michael Selig called it part of building the "Golden Age of American Financial Markets."
The mix matters too. You have the CEOs of the world's largest exchanges (Nasdaq, CME, ICE, LSEG) sitting alongside crypto-native founders. That's traditional finance and DeFi in the same advisory body, working toward common frameworks.
What this means for crypto regulation:
The IAC doesn't write laws. But will most likely directly influences how the CFTC thinks about market structure, new products, and enforcement priorities. Having this many crypto leaders at the table means the agency is more likely to write rules that reflect how blockchain markets actually work, rather than forcing them into legacy frameworks that don't fit.
It also signals that the US is actively competing to be the home for crypto innovation, rather than pushing it offshore.
What is Scratching the Surface with Soosh? Its a new mini project of mine to provide some context to the world of crypto, finance etc in bite sized written format. As the name suggests, everything here is at surface level (i.e. no deep dives or extremely details/heavy datasets), just enough to get your curiosity to tingle~ so you can learn!
Until next time on the next scratching the surface with soosh!
*this article is for curiosity only and nothing stated within should be taken as tax and financial advice. DYOR!
