Commodity Futures Trading Commission

The National Archives lists the CFTC’s predecessors as the Grain Futures Commission (1922–36), the Commodity Exchange Commission (1936–74) and the Agriculture Department’s Commodity Exchange Authority (1947–74).⁠[1]

Public Law 85-839 of August 28, 1958 banned onion futures trading; the provision, now codified at 7 U.S.C. § 13-1 and amended by Public Law 111-203 in 2010, is headed as covering both motion picture box office receipts and onion futures.⁠[2]

The National Archives records that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act of October 23, 1974 (88 Stat. 1414) established the CFTC; the CFTC’s history page says the law gave it exclusive jurisdiction over futures trading in all commodities.⁠[1][3]

On April 15, 1975 four of the first five commissioners, including the first chairman, were sworn in; on April 21 futures oversight passed from the Commodity Exchange Authority to the CFTC. On November 26 that year it approved the first futures contract on U.S. government debt, the CME’s 90-day Treasury bill.⁠[3]

Under 7 U.S.C. § 2 the Commission consists of five commissioners appointed by the President with Senate consent for five-year terms, no more than three from one party, with the chairman designated by the President.⁠[4]

Section 1a defines “commodity” to cover virtually all goods and articles and all services, rights and interests in which futures are or may be dealt, expressly excepting onions and motion picture box office receipts.⁠[5]

Because of fraud, the CFTC suspended most commodity options transactions on June 1, 1978; on September 30 the Futures Trading Act of 1978 renewed its authority for four years.⁠[3]

The CFTC says the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act enhanced its authority to oversee the more than $400 trillion swaps market, bringing dealer, trading and clearing requirements.⁠[6]

In an order against the bitcoin options platform Coinflip (Derivabit), the CFTC for the first time found bitcoin and other virtual currencies to be commodities.⁠[7]

The CFTC lists J. Christopher Giancarlo as acting chairman from January 20, 2017 and chairman from August 10, 2017 until July 15, 2019; Heath P. Tarbert as chairman until January 21, 2021; and Rostin BehnamRostin BehnamRostin Behnam (commonly known as Russ Behnam) is an American lawyer and financial regulator who served as a commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2017 to 2025, including as acting chairman from January 2021 and as its 15th chairman from January 2022 to January 2025. In office he repeatedly called on Congress to give the CFTC direct authority over spot digital asset markets, and he led enforcement after the collapse of FTX and the prohibition of Kalshi’s political event contracts; earlier he was counsel to Senator Debbie Stabenow.Open the full entry as acting chairman from January 21, 2021 and chairman from January 4, 2022 until January 20, 2025, remaining a commissioner until February 7, 2025.⁠[8][9]

On January 20, 2025 the Commission unanimously elected Caroline D. PhamCaroline D. PhamCaroline D. Pham is an American lawyer and financial-regulation and digital-asset executive who is chief executive officer of MoonPay Institutional and chief legal officer and chief administrative officer of MoonPay. She previously led regulatory and market-structure work at Citigroup, served as a commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2022 to 2025 and as its acting chairman in 2025, and advanced policies on digital assets and tokenized collateral.Open the full entry acting chairman. During her tenure she announced a “CFTC Crypto Sprint” on August 1, launched a listed spot crypto trading initiative on August 4, issued a joint CFTC–SEC staff statement on certain spot crypto asset products on September 2 and launched a tokenized collateral and stablecoins initiative on September 23.⁠[9][10]

On December 4, 2025 Pham announced that, for the first time, spot crypto could trade on CFTC-registered exchanges.⁠[11]

The Senate confirmed Michael Selig as CFTC chairman by 53 to 43 on December 18, 2025; Selig was sworn in as the 16th chairman on December 22, the day Pham departed.⁠[12][13]

The CFTC’s press release index shows that on August 12, 2026 it issued an advisory on self-certification of incentive programs for prediction markets, on August 20 held the first meeting of Selig’s Innovation Advisory Committee, and on August 28 issued a $172,000 order against a trader for insider trading in “mention market” event contracts.⁠[14]

On October 5, 2026 the CFTC issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets, saying it aimed to prevent, rather than only prosecute after the fact, fraudulent schemes such as FTX.⁠[15]

On October 9 the CFTC sought comment on a proposed rule to include certain event contracts on sports, politics, culture and weather in the definition of “swap.” Chairman Selig said, “These products are commodity derivatives squarely within the CFTC’s regulatory remit under the Commodity Exchange Act.”⁠[16]

In an interview at Token2049 in Singapore, Pham, by then MoonPay’s chief legal officer, said the Commodity Exchange Act gives the CFTC jurisdiction over almost everything: “pretty much everything is a commodity except for onions and movie box office receipts.”⁠[17]

As of October 2026 the CFTC’s commissioners page lists only Chairman Michael Selig.⁠[18]

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission: Official website: https://www.cftc.gov/ (opens in a new window)⁠[19]

X: Official account: https://x.com/CFTC (opens in a new window)⁠[19]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Official channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CFTC (opens in a new window)⁠[19]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Official page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/commodity-futures-trading-commission (opens in a new window)⁠[19]