Michael Selig has been confirmed as the chief of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday. December 19. The Senate passed the decision with a 53-43 vote. Selig was nominated for the position by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this year as he looks to transform the U.S. into the crypto capital of the world.
The CFTC is an independent government agency in the U.S. responsible for regulating the derivatives market in the world’s largest economy. Its job is to ensure fairness, stability, and transparency is maintained in activities including futures, options, and swaps. Registered prediction markets like Kalshi also fall under CFTC’s oversight – all of which will now be headed by Selig.
Selig has become the 16th Chairperson of the U.S. CFTC replacing Caroline Pham – who had been serving as the acting chairman of the agency since January. Pham was appointed to the post after previous chair Rostin Benham stepped down in February 2025 after the return of President Trump to the White House this year.
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and Patrick Witt from the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets among other senior level U.S. officials who shared congratulatory messages to Selig on X.
Back in October, when President Trump’s crypto czar David Sacks had supported Selig’s nomination for the CFTC chief, he had attested that Selig is deeply knowledgeable about financial markets.
Under the Trump administration, Selig had been working alongside the SEC’s cryptotask force as its chief counsel. Over the last few months, Selig has spoken about his intentions of protecting farmers in the American markets and assisting President Trump in his vision around digital assets markets.
The crypto community has also welcomed Selig’s appointment to his new role, aligning his appointment with the crucial timing of the crypto market structure bill being discussed actively among U.S. regulators.
This year so far, the CFTC has already taken a number of pro-crypto steps. These include launching a pilot for allowing tokenized collaterals in derivatives markets, enabling crypto trading on regulated U.S. exchanges, and approving the operations of prediction markets like Polymarket among others.