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Key Takeaways
- Trump posted on Truth Social naming Chris Christie, Letitia James, Tim Walz, and J.B. Pritzker as officials improperly attempting to regulate prediction markets.
- The CFTC has filed lawsuits and amicus briefs defending its authority, while states argue prediction markets are gambling products subject to state gaming laws.
- Trump’s sons and family business associates hold advisory and business ties to Polymarket, Kalshi, and Gemini, all of which operate or have filed to list prediction market products with the CFTC.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared it “critically important” that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission retain “exclusive authority” over prediction markets in a Truth Social post late Tuesday, directly naming four Democratic officials he accused of improperly attempting to regulate the products. Legal disputes over CFTC jurisdiction have reached the federal appellate level and could ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump Names Christie, James, Walz, and Pritzker in Truth Social Post
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has defended states’ authority to regulate gambling products, which he has likened to prediction markets, on various occasions. New York Attorney General Letitia James filed lawsuits alleging that some prediction markets are violating state gambling laws. Trump posted:
“Under my leadership, we are setting ‘rules of the road’ that are the Gold Standard for the States. We cannot have SCUM like Chris Christie, Letitia James, Tim Walz, and JB Pritzker setting the rules!”
Illinois, led by Governor J.B. Pritzker, sent a cease-and-desist order to prediction market operators. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz last week signed a law imposing criminal penalties for operating prediction markets in the state. Pritzker responded on Bluesky, saying Illinois had taken “action to prevent and ban insider trading with online prediction markets.”
“The most corrupt President in our nation’s history wants to make sure states like ours can’t regulate prediction markets so his family and administration can keep profiting,” he posted.
Pritzker did not provide evidence for the claim in his post.
CFTC Files Lawsuits and Amicus Briefs Against Multiple States
The CFTC, currently led by Chair Michael Selig as the agency’s sole commissioner, has filed lawsuits and amicus briefs against various states, including those tied to the officials named by Trump, defending its jurisdiction over prediction markets. The CFTC has argued that all prediction market contracts offered by regulated designated contract markets fall exclusively under federal jurisdiction, and that states cannot override that authority.
States have taken the opposing position that these contracts constitute gambling products and should therefore be supervised by state gaming regulators or banned outright in states that prohibit such products.
The New York Times reported over the weekend that the CFTC, under former Acting Chairman Caroline Pham, had sidelined officials who raised concerns about approvals for crypto companies the publication said had ties to Trump family businesses that had applied for designated contract market status.
Neither the CFTC nor a spokesperson for Moonpay, one of the crypto companies that had applied for designated contract market status, immediately returned The New York Times’ request for comment, the publication reported.
House Committee Opens Prediction Markets Investigation as Several Countries Issue Bans
A U.S. House of Representatives committee investigation into prediction markets was confirmed last week. A number of countries have recently banned prediction markets from operating within their borders, including Indonesia, Spain, and India in the past week. Trump addressed the international dimension in his post:
“We are currently the crypto capital of the World, other countries are trying diligently to replace us in that capacity, but we won’t let that happen.”
Trump Family Holds Advisory and Business Ties to Polymarket, Kalshi, and Gemini
Donald Trump Jr., one of the president’s sons, serves as an adviser to both Polymarket and Kalshi. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss launched a prediction market platform through their crypto exchange Gemini and filed to self-certify parlay-style contracts with the CFTC, a process that allows exchanges to list new products without prior agency approval, late last week.
The legal disputes over CFTC jurisdiction have reached the federal appellate level and could ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
