US CFTC Chair: Will Issue Clear Guidance on Prediction Markets to Prevent Manipulation and Insider Trading

Mars Finance News, on March 12, the Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Mike Selig, stated, “Today, we are taking action by issuing clear guidelines for prediction markets to help trading platforms understand CFTC’s expectations for listing new contracts. We take responsibility for ensuring that this asset class has transparent rules.” In an interview with CNBC, Mike Selig said, “Prediction markets are a rapidly evolving field, which is why today we are taking action to publish some clear guidelines to assist our trading platforms. Our platforms will certify contracts independently and have their own rulebooks, and they need to clearly understand CFTC’s expectations. Therefore, we will publish these guidelines in clear language for trading platforms to follow. Additionally, later today, we will release a pre-notice regarding proposed rulemaking. We intend to establish clear operational rules for this new asset class and new markets. It is very important to ensure that derivatives markets are free from manipulation, insider trading, and various abuses. Therefore, we will take responsibility to ensure that these new asset classes have clear operational rules.”