Svmuu News: The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development held a hearing on how the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates prediction markets. Carl Kennedy, a partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman, stated that the CFTC may be understaffed and struggle to adequately address the regulation and enforcement of platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
Kennedy believes that the CLARITY Act, currently under consideration in the Senate, could grant the CFTC additional authority to address both digital assets and the growth of prediction markets. He noted that the CFTC needs more resources to handle new asset classes such as cash markets and crypto assets.
Since his confirmation by the Senate in December, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig has maintained that the agency has exclusive jurisdiction over relevant companies and has argued that event contracts on these platforms constitute “swaps” falling under the CFTC’s jurisdiction. Several U.S. states have filed lawsuits against Kalshi and Polymarket over sports betting-related disputes, and these cases may ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court.