CFTC Chair Urges Markets to Prepare for Tokenization

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig urged U.S. financial markets to prepare for large-scale tokenization and more continuous trading, saying blockchain and artificial intelligence could reshape market infrastructure over the next decade. His remarks came as the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission pursue digital-asset initiatives under their existing authority, including a temporary SEC exemption for certain tokenized-stock trading platforms. Selig spoke Tuesday, September 22, at the U.S. Treasury Market Conference in New York. He argued that tokenization, which represents conventional assets as digital tokens on a blockchain, could bring substantial changes to financial markets. He said tokenized real-world assets could enable near-instant settlement and real-time movement of collateral among clearinghouses, intermediaries and users. Those are potential benefits he described, not outcomes established by the reports. Selig said regulators should adapt existing frameworks as financial firms consider blockchain-based systems and continuous operations.