CFTC Taps Top Wall Street and Crypto CEOs for New Innovation Council
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has unveiled the initial roster for its newly formed CEO Innovation Council, a high-profile advisory group built to guide the agency through fast-moving developments in derivatives market structure, with a particular focus on tokenization, crypto assets, prediction markets and blockchain-based infrastructure.
Announced Tuesday, the council brings together senior leaders from both traditional financial powerhouses and prominent digital-asset firms.
The lineup includes CEOs from CME Group, Nasdaq, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and Cboe Global Markets, alongside key crypto-sector figures such as Gemini’s Tyler Winklevoss, Kraken’s Arjun Sethi, Polymarket’s Shayne Coplan and Kalshi’s Tarek Mansour.
“I am grateful to the CEOs who have agreed to share their vision and experience with the commission as we hit the ground running to prepare for the future and beyond,†said Acting Chairman Caroline Pham.
She emphasized that the group — assembled in just two weeks — will concentrate on “market structure developments in derivatives markets such as tokenization, crypto assets, 24/7 trading, perpetual contracts, prediction markets and blockchain market infrastructure.â€
A Cross-Section of Traditional and Crypto Market Leaders
The council’s membership reflects the collision of traditional financial markets with the accelerating pace of digital-asset innovation. Among the confirmed members:
- Shayne Coplan, CEO, Polymarket
- Craig Donohue, CEO, Cboe Global Markets
- Terry Duffy, Chairman and CEO, CME Group
- Tom Farley, CEO, Bullish
- Adena Friedman, Chair and CEO, Nasdaq
- Luke Hoersten, CEO, Bitnomial
- Tarek Mansour, CEO, Kalshi
- Kris Marszalek, CEO, Crypto.com
- David Schwimmer, CEO, London Stock Exchange Group
- Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO, Kraken
- Jeff Sprecher, CEO, Intercontinental Exchange
- Tyler Winklevoss, CEO, Gemini
The participation of executives from prediction-market platforms Polymarket and Kalshi signals the CFTC’s heightened attention to the rapidly evolving event-contract sector — an area increasingly under regulatory scrutiny at both federal and state levels.
Final Push Before Leadership Transition
The council’s debut comes during a particularly active moment for the derivatives regulator.
Pham, who has served as interim chair for less than a year, has accelerated crypto policy initiatives in her final days at the helm, responding to President Donald Trump’s directive to embrace a more innovation-forward stance across financial agencies.
Just this week, the CFTC announced a pilot program enabling the use of crypto collateral in derivatives markets. That followed another milestone: Bitnomial, a Chicago-based exchange whose CEO Luke Hoersten sits on the new council, launched levered spot crypto trading — a step Pham publicly endorsed as consistent with U.S. derivatives laws.
These efforts mark some of the last moves of Pham’s tenure.
President Trump’s nominee for CFTC chairman, Mike Selig, is expected to secure Senate confirmation soon.
Once sworn in, Selig will inherit a fast-growing portfolio of crypto policy work, including the new innovation council’s mandate and several pilot programs that could reshape digital-asset market infrastructure.
A Coordinated Federal Shift Toward Pro-Crypto Policy
Pham’s crypto agenda closely aligns with a broader government-wide shift under Trump-era leadership.
At the Securities and Exchange Commission, incoming Chairman Paul Atkins has embarked on a parallel initiative known as Project Crypto, aimed at modernizing securities rules and creating more clarity for token issuers and blockchain-based financial products.
Together, Atkins and Pham represent the most aggressive federal push toward crypto-friendly policymaking since digital assets entered Washington’s regulatory crosshairs more than a decade ago.
Their efforts echo Trump’s stated goal of transforming the U.S. into a global hub for blockchain innovation and tokenized finance.
Also read: Trump’s Pro-Crypto Pivot Drives $1 Trillion Surge in U.S. Crypto Transactions: Report
The formation of the CEO Innovation Council signals the CFTC’s intention to keep pace with — and potentially shape — the structural shifts underway in global derivatives markets. With institutions adopting 24/7 trading models, exchanges exploring tokenized collateral, and prediction markets expanding rapidly, derivatives oversight may be entering its most transformative period since the early 2000s.
