The US Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) has employed a brand new chief knowledge innovation officer with deep expertise in blockchain forensics in what may very well be seen because the regulator’s transfer towards better concentrate on the know-how.
In a Monday discover, CFTC Chair Michael Selig mentioned that Donald Battle, an adviser to the US Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) crypto process pressure, can be the fee’s chief knowledge innovation officer. Battle was appointed as an SEC crypto process pressure adviser in January 2025 with the incoming Trump administration, and beforehand labored as a blockchain knowledge adviser for the CFTC and crypto enforcement specialist with the Treasury Division’s Monetary Crimes Enforcement Community.
Supply: CFTC
Selig cited Battle’s expertise in “knowledge science, blockchain forensics, programming interfaces, and cutting-edge AI options” amongst his causes for his choose.
The appointment signaled the company transferring nearer to addressing crypto regulation and enforcement at a time when Congress is searching for to overtake the CFTC’s and SEC’s roles with a digital asset market construction invoice, the CLARITY Act.
The CFTC chair stays the only real commissioner on the monetary company answerable for many facets of digital asset regulation and enforcement. Beneath Selig, the CFTC has claimed exclusion jurisdiction over regulating prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket, leading to many lawsuits towards state-level authorities searching for to crack down on what they known as unlawful playing.
Associated: Kraken rolls out perpetual futures for US merchants by way of CFTC-regulated venue
Public remark interval opens for proposed CFTC framework on sports activities occasion contracts
The CFTC final week launched a proposed rule that would distinguish sports activities occasion contracts supplied on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket from what it known as “video games of random probability,” referring to playing. The general public has 45 days to touch upon the draft rule that would affect how the monetary company addresses regulation of sports activities occasions contracts and betting on the state and federal ranges.
Journal: Bitcoin, the ‘canary within the coal mine,’ XRP transaction demand falls 91.5%: Market Strikes