CFTC adds crypto industry leaders to new innovation committee

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced the formation of a new Innovation Committee that includes 35 industry representatives – from crypto exchanges and blockchain developers to executives at major traditional financial institutions. Chair Michael S. Selig emphasized that the committee will serve as a central mechanism for shaping how the agency approaches “breakthrough” technologies, including artificial intelligence and blockchain.

Selig said the committee’s mission is to build a “future-proof” regulatory environment that reflects real market dynamics. Under his leadership, the CFTC is pushing for a more flexible supervisory framework designed to support the development of digital assets alongside other financial innovations. In coordination with the SEC, the agency is advancing Project Crypto, an initiative aimed at modernizing the rules governing the crypto sector.

The committee’s composition underscores the breadth of industry participation. It includes leading figures from major blockchain ecosystems: Vivek Raman (Etherealize), Anatoly Yakovenko (Solana Labs), Brad Garlinghouse (Ripple), Sergey Nazarov (Chainlink Labs), and Hayden Adams (Uniswap Labs). Centralized platforms such as Bullish, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Gemini, and Kraken are represented as well, along with trading firms Bitnomial and Robinhood.

Prediction-market leaders Shane Coplan (Polymarket) and Tarek Mansour (Kalshi) were also appointed, highlighting regulators’ growing interest in event-driven markets. Top crypto venture investors – Chris Dixon (a16z crypto), Vance Spencer (Framework Ventures), and Alana Palmedo (Paradigm) – further round out the list.

Major TradFi institutions add another layer of weight: Cboe, CME, DTCC, Nasdaq, and OCC have all sent representatives, signaling an effort to align oversight of traditional markets with digital-asset innovation.

Selig noted that bringing together participants “from every corner of the market” will allow the commission to craft rules grounded in practical industry experience rather than theoretical models. This, he said, is essential at a moment when U.S. financial markets are entering a “golden age” driven by AI systems, on-chain infrastructure, and digital assets.

The committee will begin work in the coming weeks. Initial topics include structural risks in blockchain infrastructure, transparency standards for crypto platforms, and policy approaches to integrating AI into trading systems.