In December 2025, within the U.S. financial regulatory system, an unusual "reconciliation" and "alliance" quietly took shape. Policymakers in Washington, D.C. are attempting to confront the disruptive challenges posed by crypto assets in an unprecedented manner.
I. A Carefully Curated "All-Star" List
● On December 11, Carolyn Pam, acting chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced the formal establishment of the "CEO Innovation Committee under the Digital Asset Market Advisory Committee." This somewhat lengthy-named body has sent shockwaves through both Wall Street and the crypto world due to the composition of its inaugural members.
This 12-person list is a carefully designed balance:
● Traditional Pillars: Leaders from traditional financial giants such as Terry Duffy, CEO of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), and Adena Friedman, CEO of Nasdaq, are included. They represent the core interests and century-long experience of existing regulated markets, symbolizing financial stability.
● Crypto Native Forces: CEOs from leading cryptocurrency exchanges like Kraken, Gemini, and Crypto.com occupy key positions. They bring firsthand experience of new business models such as perpetual contracts and 24/7 uninterrupted trading, realities that regulations must confront.
● Frontier "Disruptors": The most indicative inclusion is the selection of prediction market platforms Polymarket and Kalshi. These platforms, which have drawn attention for operating in regulatory gray areas, have had their founders directly invited into the meeting room. This strongly suggests that regulators aim not to stifle but to clarify and integrate such cutting-edge innovations.
This list deliberately avoids a simple gathering of either the "crypto circle" or the "traditional circle," with its core goal targeting one keyword: dialogue.
II. Strategic Intent: From "Building Walls" to "Building Roads"
● The CFTC's recent actions signify a strategic shift in regulatory philosophy. In the past, the relationship between regulators and emerging industries was often described as a "cat-and-mouse game," with one side building high walls while the other sought gaps. The establishment of the "CEO Innovation Committee" feels more like an invitation to the main "road builders" to collaboratively draft a map of future traffic rules.
● Behind this shift lies profound real-world pressure. The crypto market and its derivatives trading are rapidly expanding globally, yet the U.S. regulatory framework remains fragmented, with jurisdiction blurred between the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the CFTC. This uncertainty has significantly hindered the U.S. in attracting crypto innovation and capital. Several bipartisan proposals in Congress are attempting to clarify and expand the CFTC's regulatory authority over the digital asset spot market. The CFTC's move can be seen as a "capacity warm-up" and "consensus reserve" for potential new statutory authority.
● By incorporating the industry's most core and challenging participants into a formal advisory framework, the CFTC hopes to achieve multiple objectives:
First, to directly acquire cutting-edge market knowledge and avoid regulatory disconnection from reality;
Second, to resolve potential major disagreements early in the policy design process, enhancing the future rules' enforceability;
Third, to showcase the U.S. stance of integrating and leading innovation in the international regulatory competition.
III. Delicate Timing and Considerations of "Policy Legacy"
● The establishment of the committee occurs during an exceptionally delicate power transition window. Its primary advocate, acting chair Carolyn Pam, is a recognized proponent of regulatory innovation. She has repeatedly emphasized that regulatory agencies must proactively understand technology rather than react passively afterward. This committee is a concentrated embodiment of her regulatory philosophy.
● However, Pam's term is nearing its end. The new chair, Mike Selig, nominated by President Trump, has already passed the Senate Agriculture Committee and is awaiting a full Senate vote. Selig has experience handling crypto cases at the SEC and is viewed as a pragmatist.
Thus, this committee, hastily established on the eve of the old chair's departure, is widely interpreted as Pam's intended "policy legacy"—it creates a formalized high-level dialogue mechanism that will be difficult for any successor to easily bypass or abolish, regardless of their preferences.
● This also casts a layer of uncertainty over the committee's future. Will the new chair fully support it and make it a core focus of their work, or will they adjust its agenda priorities, or even treat it with indifference? The variables brought about by this leadership change are essential political contexts to consider when assessing whether the committee can produce substantial results.
IV. Six Core Issues: Confronting the Toughest Questions
The committee is not engaging in vague discussions; its work focus is precisely locked onto six specific and highly challenging frontier areas. Each issue directly interrogates the existing regulatory framework:
Tokenization: How to regulate on-chain tokens backed by physical assets (such as government bonds, real estate)? This concerns the compliance path for trillions of dollars of traditional assets being tokenized.
Crypto Assets: As the SEC emphasizes the "securities" attribute, how does the CFTC define the "commodity" attribute under its jurisdiction? This is the crux of jurisdictional division.
24/7 Trading: How can financial infrastructure, risk monitoring, and personnel adapt to a market that never closes? This fundamentally disrupts the entire traditional system built on the concept of "trading days."
Perpetual Contracts: These crypto market-specific derivatives, which have no expiration date and settle through funding rates, have risk structures entirely different from traditional futures, requiring a new regulatory toolbox.
Prediction Markets: This is the boldest topic. Should and how can prediction markets involving political and sports events be regulated as legitimate financial derivatives? This intersects finance, law, and social policy.
Blockchain Infrastructure: How should regulatory standards for underlying "pipelines" such as trade clearing and asset custody be set? This is the cornerstone for the safe operation of the entire market.
Bringing these six challenging issues to the table simultaneously demonstrates that the CFTC intends not to engage in piecemeal approaches but to explore a systematic framework reconstruction.
V. The Long Road from Dialogue to Results
The establishment of the committee is just the beginning of the story. Transitioning from dialogue to consensus, and then to producing legally binding regulatory frameworks, is a long and rugged road.
● When the first meeting will be held, in what form (public or closed-door), and whether the discussion content will be transparent—these operational details have yet to be disclosed. The greater suspense lies in the form of the outcomes: will it be a non-binding industry white paper, or will it produce specific legislative proposals to be submitted to Congress, or even push for the CFTC's own pilot regulatory rules?
● Market expectations coexist with doubts. The expectation is that this indeed signals a positive shift in regulatory attitudes, providing the industry with the highest level of direct communication channels. The doubt lies in the differing interests of the giants—traditional exchanges focus on fair competition, crypto platforms seek rule recognition, and prediction markets crave legitimacy—whether the committee can reach a consensus internally rather than devolving into another talk shop.
Regardless, the establishment of the CFTC's "CEO Innovation Committee" has rewritten the narrative script of U.S. crypto regulation. It is no longer a simple story of "regulation versus anti-regulation," but opens a more complex and constructive chapter: in a regulatory vacuum, how can rule-makers and those being regulated collaboratively build the first safety barrier?
The success or failure of this experiment will not only determine the competitiveness of the U.S. market but may also provide a key model for global financial governance in the digital age.
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