CFTC adds new advisory body to guide rules for AI-driven and tokenized markets

The committee replaces and renames the CFTC’s former Technology Advisory Committee and is tasked with providing recommendations on how novel technologies are changing derivatives and commodity markets, and how the regulator should respond through surveillance, enforcement, and market-structure rulemaking. The new body is housed under the Commission’s advisory framework and will draw members from industry, market infrastructure, academia, public-interest groups, and other regulators, according to the agency’s announcement.

In its charter, the CFTC says the Innovation Advisory Committee will assess the commercial and economic implications of technologies used by market participants and users – explicitly citing AI, blockchain, and cloud computing – and develop “clear rules of the road” recommendations for the Commission to consider. The agency set January 31, 2026 as the deadline for nominations and topic proposals, underscoring a near-term timetable to seat members and begin work.

The remit extends beyond external markets to the regulator’s own capabilities: the committee may advise on the level of technology investment the CFTC itself needs to meet surveillance and enforcement responsibilities in increasingly automated markets. That includes guidance on the application of emerging tools in trade monitoring and risk oversight – areas where AI models and on-chain analytics are increasingly deployed.

The Innovation Advisory Committee sits alongside four other standing advisory groups that the CFTC uses to route technical input into policymaking. While advisory committees do not set rules, their reports and recommendations often shape rulemakings and staff guidance, and offer a venue for industry and public-interest groups to surface risks and operational realities before formal proposals are drafted.

The agency framed the step as part of a broader effort to update market-structure oversight for the “new frontier of finance,” pointing to rapid product innovation and expanding use of AI and distributed ledgers across trading venues, clearing, and post-trade services. The Commission invited a broad cross-section of stakeholders to seek seats or submit agenda topics, signaling that early priorities may include data-integrity standards for AI-driven trading and risk models, best practices for on-chain market transparency, and approaches to cloud dependency in critical market infrastructure.