Michael S. Selig

Michael S. Selig is an American lawyer who has served as Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) since December 22, 2025.

Early life and education Selig earned an undergraduate degree from Florida State University. He attended law school at George Washington University Law School, during which time he was articles editor for The George Washington Law Review, and graduated in 2015.

Career Selig worked as a law clerk for Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2014 to 2015. He was a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher from 2022 to 2025, where he represented cryptocurrency industry clients including eToro and Paradigm.

Public service In 2025, Selig became chief counsel for the cryptocurrency task force at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a senior adviser to Chairman Paul S. Atkins. Selig was confirmed by the Senate on December 18, 2025 and sworn in on December 22. After his confirmation, the single remaining CFTC Commissioner, Caroline Pham, resigned, leaving Selig as the only Commissioner on the normally five-person Commission.

Selig has sided with prediction markets and cryptocurrency forms in regulatory disputes. Under his tenure as Chair of the CFTC, he has sued several states that attempt to regulate sports gambling on prediction markets. Selig has said that the CFTC under the Joe Biden administration was overzealous in its regulatory enforcement against cryptocurrency companies. Selig has complained about "fake news" and argued that prediction markets are "truth machines."