CFTC taps Kalshi, Polymarket, DraftKings, FanDuel for New Innovation Panel
The Trump administration’s newly announced Innovation Advisory Committee on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission could appear like a routine authorities panel. In actuality, it represents the formal mixture of crypto, prediction markets, conventional exchanges and sports activities betting beneath one federal derivatives umbrella.
First reported by Brecca Stoll of The Daily Wire, who detailed how the CFTC assembled 35 executives throughout crypto, decentralized finance, prediction markets and legacy monetary establishments. Stoll later shared the total roster on X, writing that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev and Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan have been amongst these tapped for the brand new committee.
Prediction markets, crypto, and… DraftKings?
The committee features a uncommon mixture of direct opponents and institutional incumbents. Among prediction market leaders are Tarek Mansour of Kalshi and Shayne Coplan of Polymarket.
They sit alongside crypto CEOs similar to Brian Armstrong of Coinbase and Anatoly Yakovenko of Solana Labs, in addition to buying and selling and alternate executives together with Jeff Sprecher and Terry Duffy.
The inclusion of FanDuel and DraftKings executives alongside derivatives and crypto leaders prompted questions on-line, although each are part of the Coalition for Prediction Markets, introduced late final 12 months.
Heatmap correspondent Matthew Zeitlin requested why DraftKings was included given its obvious distinction from regulated exchanges and crypto platforms. The reply lies in regulatory jurisdiction: prediction markets, sports activities betting derivatives and occasion contracts more and more overlap throughout the CFTC’s purview.
why is draft kings on the record? is not their enterprise completely totally different from robinhood, kalshi, and polymarket’s? https://t.co/y4UlpyRUqi
— Matthew Zeitlin (@MattZeitlin) February 13, 2026
As one business observer, Nathan Dean, noted in response to Stoll’s put up, the lineup is highly effective and represents “everybody you want from the crypto, fairness and derivatives worlds.” He additionally cautioned that advisory committees make suggestions slightly than set coverage instantly.
“This is a strong line-up. Everyone you want from the crypto, fairness and derivatives worlds.”
CFTC goals to future-proof markets
The timing is critical. The CFTC lately withdrew a Biden-era rule that had restricted futures contracts tied to political and athletic occasions. That opened the door for federally regulated prediction markets to broaden in sports activities and political contracts.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig defined that the Innovation Advisory Committee was a part of a modernization effort. In feedback reported by Stoll, Selig mentioned the committee would assist “future-proof” markets and supply clearer guidelines for what he described because the “Golden Age of American Financial Markets.”
On yesterday’s Odds Lots podcast he made it very clear that the CFTC does not merit regulate, “We don’t inform folks what they need to be coming into into contracts on. We create guidelines and rules for these markets to make sure they’re integrity, resilient, vibrant, and have guardrails and investor protections … We’re not telling folks whether or not to commerce pork bellies or Cardi B contracts or the rest.”
This marks a definite shift in tone. Under the prior administration, prediction markets and crypto platforms continuously confronted uncertainty over jurisdiction and enforcement. The new committee suggests an effort to combine these sectors into the formal derivatives framework.
Advisory committees don’t write the foundations
Prediction markets have been as soon as handled as area of interest experiments. Now, their CEOs are seated alongside leaders of Nasdaq, the London Stock Exchange Group and CME Group in a federal advisory capability. The CFTC’s committee acknowledges that occasion contracts, crypto derivatives and conventional futures markets are combining.
That mixture is already seen in market conduct. Platforms similar to Robinhood and Coinbase have launched regulated prediction products. Kalshi has positioned itself as a federally supervised alternate. Polymarket continues to function onchain whereas partaking with regulatory stakeholders.
The committee formalizes what the market has been signaling: prediction markets have gotten a part of monetary infrastructure.
Still, advisory committees don’t write guidelines. They present suggestions. Whether these suggestions result in sturdy regulatory readability will depend upon how the CFTC interprets business suggestions into enforceable requirements.
For prediction markets, the stakes are high. Federal recognition can improve institutional adoption and cut back state-by-state uncertainty. At the identical time, nearer integration with regulators may impose stricter compliance and surveillance necessities.
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