Trump Vows to Protect Crypto and Defend CFTC Control of $multibillion Prediction Markets
Updated
Updated · NBC News · May 26
Trump Vows to Protect Crypto and Defend CFTC Control of $multibillion Prediction Markets
13 articles · Updated · NBC News · May 26
Trump said Tuesday he would shield crypto and preserve the CFTC’s “exclusive authority” over prediction markets, casting both sectors as strategic industries the U.S. must keep from losing to foreign rivals.
The pledge followed a New York Times investigation that said the CFTC had repeatedly aided prediction-market expansion while easing crypto enforcement, even as Trump and his family hold ties to crypto ventures and platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket.
That fight is now centered on jurisdiction: Trump and CFTC allies say event contracts are federally regulated markets, while a growing bipartisan group of governors and attorneys general argue sports-related contracts are gambling subject to state law.
Minnesota sharpened the clash last week by passing the first state ban on prediction-market sites, prompting the Trump administration to sue; Trump also singled out New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office has targeted crypto-linked platforms.
As prediction markets boom, who will win the fight to define them: federal regulators or state gambling laws?
With billions at stake, can regulators stop insiders from using classified information on these new markets?
Beyond profits, do markets allowing bets on war and disaster create a new kind of social harm?