Chairman Michael Selig announced the new working group at the Digital Asset Summit in New York, with a focus on regulatory frameworks for emerging products and technologies.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has established a new Innovation Task Force dedicated to digital assets, artificial intelligence and prediction markets. The announcement came on Tuesday, March 24, when CFTC Chairman Michael Selig unveiled the initiative at the Digital Asset Summit in New York City.
The task force will be led by Michael J. Passalacqua, Selig’s senior advisor, and will be tasked with defining a clear regulatory framework for new products and emerging technologies. According to Selig, “by establishing a clear regulatory framework for innovators building on the new frontier of finance, we can foster responsible innovation at home and ensure that American market participants are not left on the sidelines.”
The new group will collaborate with other federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and its crypto task force, which has been active for over a year. The SEC established its own cryptocurrency working group in 2025 and has since organized several discussions on topics such as DeFi and tokenization. Last week, the two agencies jointly issued interpretive guidance to clarify jurisdictional boundaries, indicating that most cryptocurrencies are not securities.
The task force will also operate in coordination with the CFTC’s innovation advisory committee, established in February and composed of more than 30 industry executives. Members include Tarek Mansour, CEO of Kalshi, and Adena Friedman, CEO of Nasdaq. “The idea behind our innovation task force is to create a space where innovators and developers can come and talk to staff,” Selig said at the summit.
Alongside the task force announcement, the CFTC has intensified its focus on prediction markets. Selig asserted the agency’s jurisdiction in this sector, despite pushback from several U.S. states that argue such platforms may violate local gambling laws — particularly when tied to sporting events.
