The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is embracing artificial intelligence and automation to tackle its growing responsibilities, according to Chairman Mike Selig's testimony to Congress, despite a significant decline in the agency's workforce under the Trump administration. With approximately a quarter of the CFTC's staff having departed since 2025, the agency is facing increased pressure to regulate the rapidly expanding cryptocurrency and prediction markets.
Selig emphasized the importance of AI tools, such as Microsoft's Copilot, in facilitating investigations and enhancing surveillance. When questioned about the staff reductions, Selig asserted that the agency is operating more efficiently, with AI playing a key role in this process.
Committee Chairman Glenn 'GT' Thompson expressed concerns about the agency's capacity to handle its growing workload, particularly with regards to digital assets and prediction markets. Selig assured the committee that he would request additional support if needed. The CFTC is currently pursuing a preliminary rule process to establish guidelines for US prediction markets, while also pushing policy initiatives in the crypto sector. The agency's budget request for the upcoming year includes a modest increase in enforcement staff, from 105 to 108 people, still short of the 140 personnel it had in 2025.
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, currently being debated in the Senate, would grant the CFTC a central role in overseeing non-securities crypto trading, including transactions involving leading assets like bitcoin and Ethereum. Selig acknowledged the existence of numerous ongoing investigations into prediction markets, although he declined to provide further details. He emphasized the agency's zero-tolerance policy towards illicit market activity and its commitment to protecting the integrity of the markets. Representative Angie Craig, the committee's top Democrat, argued that the agency's workforce is overstretched, particularly given its role as the primary regulator of two of the fastest-growing and most volatile markets.
Craig stressed the need for the CFTC to receive adequate staffing, funding, and statutory authority to effectively perform its duties. The personnel decline at the regulator includes the commission itself, which is supposed to have five members but currently consists of only Selig.
The chairman was questioned about his plans to proceed with major rules as a one-person commission, to which he replied that he cannot slow down the rulemaking process for the sake of the American people.