The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said it will use artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to expand oversight of cryptocurrencies and prediction markets despite large-scale staff reductions.

Coindesk, a blockchain media outlet, reported on April 16 local time that CFTC Chair Mike Selick (마이크 셀릭) told a U.S. House Agriculture Committee hearing the agency is actively deploying AI in investigations and market surveillance.

Selick stressed that efficiency has improved even as the CFTC workforce has shrunk by about a quarter since 2025. He said tools such as AI will be very helpful in monitoring markets and conducting investigations, and added that they are already being reflected across multiple tasks. Asked about staffing declines, he responded that the agency is being run more efficiently and effectively.

The problem is that the CFTC's oversight scope is not shrinking and is instead expanding. A digital asset market clarity bill under discussion in the Senate, the Clarity Act, includes provisions that would assign the CFTC key oversight authority over trading in non-security cryptocurrencies. In that case, the CFTC role could grow further across spot trading in major cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ether.

Prediction markets are moving in the same direction. The CFTC is strengthening legal jurisdiction over prediction-market platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, and the related market has grown from millions of dollars a year ago to tens of billions of dollars now. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson said Congress continues to leave digital asset and prediction-market regulation to the CFTC, and told it to ask Congress for support if additional staff are needed. Selick also immediately agreed.

Still, staffing conditions remain tight. The CFTC's budget request for next year reflects only an increase of 3 staff in enforcement. Total enforcement staff would rise to 108, but that is still 23 percent fewer than 140 in 2025. Democratic Representative Angie Craig said staffing is far too low even though the CFTC is the main regulator of the fastest-growing markets. She said the CFTC needs staff, budget and clear legal authority to carry out its role.

Concerns are also being raised that enforcement pressure on prediction markets could increase. Selick acknowledged that numerous investigations related to prediction markets are under way, but did not disclose specific numbers or the focus. He said regulated platforms are the first line of defence against insider trading, fraud and market manipulation, and the CFTC is the second line. He added the CFTC regularly refuses contracts and is actively reviewing products listed on the market. He also said it applies a zero-tolerance policy to illegal market activity and that anyone involved in such acts will face the full punishment of the law.

In practice, prediction markets have seen repeated allegations of insider trading during Selick's tenure. Platforms handled some matters internally, but trading around U.S. military action or government announcements drew attention after signs emerged that a small number of anonymous participants earned large profits. That has raised the possibility that trades used internal government information.

The commission's operating structure itself is also unstable. By law, the CFTC should be a five-member commission, but it remains a one-man structure because the White House has not appointed successor commissioners. At the hearing, questions followed over whether it would push ahead with major rulemaking under those conditions. As a result, the CFTC is expected to keep pursuing preliminary rulemaking procedures to establish basic regulatory mechanisms for U.S. prediction markets while also working on cryptocurrency-related policy.

The matter shows the CFTC is actively using AI in supervisory work despite staffing declines. It also exposed structural limits to handling fast-growing markets such as cryptocurrencies and prediction markets with the agency's existing scale.