The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) named twelve exchange executives to its new CEO Innovation Council, bringing together prediction market operators like Polymarket and Kalshi with established derivatives giants like CME Group and ICE.

Prediction Markets Join Derivatives Giants in CFTC's CEO Forum

Acting Chairman Caroline Pham announced the first group yesterday (Wednesday), focusing on exchanges as the regulator continues reviewing additional submissions.

The council will discuss how derivatives markets are evolving around tokenization, crypto assets, round-the-clock trading, perpetual contracts, prediction markets and blockchain infrastructure.

The participant list reads like a who's who of both traditional and emerging derivatives platforms. Shayne Coplan from Polymarket and Tarek Mansour from Kalshi will sit alongside Terry Duffy from CME Group and Jeff Sprecher from Intercontinental Exchange. Crypto exchanges got multiple seats - Kris Marszalek from Crypto.com, Arjun Sethi from Kraken, and Tyler Winklevoss from Gemini all made the cut.

You can check the whole list in the official CFTC announcement.

"We are building on the success of the CFTC Crypto CEO Forum and the SEC-CFTC Joint Roundtable with our CFTC CEO Innovation Council, specifically focused on market structure developments in derivatives markets such as tokenization, crypto assets, 24/7 trading, perpetual contracts, prediction markets and blockchain market infrastructure," Pham said.

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"I am grateful to the CEOs who have agreed to share their vision and experience with the Commission as we hit the ground running to prepare for the future and beyond."

Prediction Markets Get Seat at Table

The inclusion of prediction market platforms signals how quickly this sector has moved from regulatory gray area to mainstream derivatives conversation. Polymarket rolled out its U.S. app after getting CFTC clearance, returning to the American market after regulators pushed it offshore in 2022 over unregistered event-based derivatives. The platform attracted funding interest valuing it up to $15 billion, with Intercontinental Exchange investing up to $2 billion at an $8 billion valuation.

Kalshi has seen similar investor enthusiasm. The company secured an $11 billion valuation in a recent funding round, more than doubling from $5 billion just two months earlier. The platform competes directly with Polymarket as both race to expand regulated prediction markets.

Even traditional derivatives players are entering this space. CME Group partnered with FanDuel to let sports bettors trade contracts on game outcomes, stock indexes and commodities for as little as one cent starting in December.

In the meantime, Crypto.com launched entertainment prediction markets covering movies, TV shows and awards after securing full CFTC derivatives licenses for U.S. retail event contracts.

Traditional Exchanges Balance Innovation Pressure

The council also includes leaders from established trading venues that are adapting to competitive pressure from upstarts. Craig Donohue from Cboe Global Markets, Adena Friedman from Nasdaq, and David Schwimmer from London Stock Exchange Group represent exchanges that have spent decades building derivatives infrastructure but now face questions about 24/7 trading and tokenized assets.

Tom Farley from Bullish and Luke Hoersten from Bitnomial round out the group, adding perspectives from crypto-native trading platforms that built their technology stacks around blockchain from day one.

The CFTC has accelerated work on derivatives modernization since Pham took the acting chairman role. The regulator launched a "Crypto Sprint" running through August 2026 to implement recommendations from the President's Working Group on Digital Asset Markets. That initiative covers listed spot crypto trading, tokenized collateral, stablecoins, and rulemaking to enable blockchain technology in market infrastructure.

“The public has spoken: tokenized markets are here, and they are the future,” Caroline Pham, acting chairman of the CFTC, said during a keynote address at the Futures Industry Association's annual conference in Chicago.

The council will hold public discussions, though the CFTC hasn't released final details on timing or format. Pham said the regulator continues reviewing submissions and may announce additional participants beyond this initial exchange-focused group.