The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) convened its first Innovation Advisory Board meeting in Washington to focus on encrypted assets, artificial intelligence and forecasting markets. The Chairman of the CTC, Michael Selig, said that financial innovation had entered a new phase and that the United States needed to remain dominant in rule-making and market acceptance.
Encryption markets are prioritized
The meeting was chaired by Walt Lukken, and was attended by senior executives and industry from Ripple, Coinbase, Uniswap and CME Group. Selig explained that the CTC was assessing how to respond to new financial technologies using existing regulatory systems.
He said that the focus of the current discussion was no longer on block chains, AI and forecasting whether the market would change finance, but rather where those innovations would end up and who would set the rules. According to him, the CTC currently oversees a derivative market of about half the world's 1.2 billion dollars, and thus regulatory rules need to keep pace with technological changes.
If the bill is blocked, it will advance the existing rules under its jurisdiction.
Encryption assets are one of the core issues of this meeting. Selig states that the CTC is coordinating with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to promote a clearer regulatory framework for digital assets, while still hoping that Congress will adopt the CIATY Act.
He also mentioned, however, that if CLARITY Act continued to stagnate, CFTC would consider establishing regulatory rules for the encryption market based on existing statutory powers. According to him, the staff member concerned had been asked to study a programme to allow the encryption platform to be registered as a digital asset market and to provide leverage or security transactions under the supervision of the CTC.
Selig also indicated that the CTC was in contact with the chain financial protocol developers to help the projects operate in compliance in the United States.
AI Calculus advances simultaneously with the forecast market
In addition to encrypted assets, CFTC is also focusing on the calculator market needed to run the AI system. The Agency had recently even been able to publish a public consultation document and planned to work with the United States Department of Commerce to study the corresponding regulatory framework.
The forecast market was also given priority in the next phase. Selig indicated that the CFTC planned to update the rules of contract for events, in the direction of enhancing consumer protection and clarifying the criteria for listing products. The agency had previously proposed changes to Rule 40.11, and would continue to make additional rule-making proposals on incident contracts and trading platforms.
Overall, the CFTC is trying to put in place an early regulatory framework in the context of cross-cutting developments in encryption, AI and forecasting markets, so that the relevant business can continue to operate in the United States.