Warren Demands CFTC Records on Crypto, Trump Ties

Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig for internal records and communications in a letter sent Monday. She requested a list of staff placed on leave, a complete record of staff separations since January 2025, and the administrative files behind no-action letters issued to Polymarket and Gemini. Warren set a June 18 deadline for the material.

Warren also requested all communications between prediction market firms and the agency related to the proposed Clarity Act, which would move much of crypto oversight to the CFTC.

In the letter, Warren wrote the agency has been “steamrolled” by prediction market and crypto firms. She cited a roughly 25% drop in workforce and a fall in enforcement actions from 58 in fiscal 2024 to 11 in the year since the administration took office.

Warren cited several regulatory decisions in her request. She wrote the CFTC approved a Polymarket request after an investment by a firm tied to Donald Trump Jr., fast-tracked a Gemini offshoot whose founders backed an entity connected to American Bitcoin, and sidelined staff who raised questions about Crypto.com, a partner of Trump Media & Technology.

Released texts from former commissioner Brian Quintenz show Tyler Winklevoss urged treating a complaint as “the highest priority” and offered to “raise this issue with the president himself.” Quintenz’s nomination to lead the agency was later withdrawn and Selig was nominated in his place.

Warren noted that Selig asked a judge to vacate a $5 million penalty against Gemini and that the founders of Gemini donated $1 million each in Bitcoin to President Trump’s reelection campaign.

Warren wrote the requested records are needed to determine whether political relationships or donor ties influenced regulatory decisions and whether the CFTC has the independence and capacity to take on expanded crypto oversight.

Market activity has grown: top prediction platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket held roughly $60 billion in market value in early 2026, and some estimates project the market could reach $1 trillion in trading volume by 2030.

The request follows congressional scrutiny of the CFTC. In hearings before the House Agriculture Committee, lawmakers of both parties questioned Chair Selig on prediction markets, a decentralized exchange called Hyperliquid, and a series of suspicious trades timed ahead of major announcements. Personnel moves and agency communications with industry have also drawn bipartisan attention.

Warren has made related inquiries on crypto policy, pressing other regulators on national trust bank charters for crypto firms and, with Sen. Bernie Sanders, urging exclusion of crypto from 401(k) plans.

The CFTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lawmakers are weighing whether to expand the agency’s role in digital asset oversight.