by Coinstrooper Crypto Articles
Quick Take
  • CME Group CEO Terry Duffy told the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) it clears contracts that traders can rig.
  • Chairman Michael Selig cut him off and called the claim fake news.
  • The exchange happened Thursday in Washington, at the first meeting of the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee.
  • Duffy runs the largest futures exchange in the world.

What Happened

Self-certification is the fast lane. An exchange files a contract, attests that it follows the law, and lists it. Nobody has to approve it.

In the second, Trump’s teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez cleared more than $100,000 on Kalshi. He traded on what the president would say. Investigators found bets on more than a dozen speeches.

Kalshi already runs markets on the cost of renting Nvidia chips. It launched them in July.

Market Context

CME Group CEO Terry Duffy told the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) it clears contracts that traders can rig. Chairman Michael Selig cut him off and called the claim fake news.

Selig built the 35-member committee in February. Its roster includes the chief executives of Kalshi, Polymarket and DraftKings. Thursday’s agenda covered crypto, artificial intelligence and event contracts.

“We’re not a bunch of carnival barkers at a circus. We are running the most envious markets in the world in the United States of America.”

In the first, a Fort Bragg soldier named Gannon Van Dyke turned $33,034 into $409,881 on Polymarket. He bet on whether US forces would enter Venezuela. He also held classified details of the raid that captured Nicolás Maduro. Prosecutors charged him in April.

Duffy called that a cute comment. He granted that the Maduro market was Polymarket’s, which trades offshore.

CME wants in on the same trade. On August 11 it said it would list rental futures for Nvidia H100 and B200 chips. Its partner is Silicon Data, a firm backed by trading house DRW. Target date, October 5, pending review.

Why It Matters

The exchange happened Thursday in Washington, at the first meeting of the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee. Duffy runs the largest futures exchange in the world. Selig regulates it.

2,500 Filings and Zero Objections

Details

Duffy used his turn to attack the last one.

Roughly 2,500 self-certifications have landed at the agency since January 2025, he said. None were opposed.

Duffy said some of those filings break core principle 3. That rule bars any contract that traders can readily manipulate.

There is a structural reason few filings get challenged. Selig is the only sitting commissioner at the CFTC. Four of the agency’s five seats are empty.

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Selig Calls It Fake News, But The Record Is Messier

Duffy raised two cases.

Selig cut in before Duffy finished.

“…those products are not listed in the United States. They never were. This occurred offshore, and that’s fake news.”

The teleprompter case is different. Those trades ran on Kalshi, an exchange the CFTC itself designates and oversees. Kalshi’s own surveillance team flagged the activity and reported it to the agency.

So one example landed offshore. The other did not.

Kalshi Trades Compute Today. CME Waits for October.

Duffy then moved to timing, and the complaint got sharper.