Asserts securities jurisdiction over outcome-linked tokens and platforms that issue securities alongside event contracts. Coordinates with the CFTC via the 2026 MOU on jurisdictional boundaries.
SECComment PeriodHighJun 30
The SEC issued a formal request for public comment on June 30 covering the registration and regulatory treatment of novel exchange-traded funds, explicitly including funds tied to prediction-market and event-contract outcomes (File No. S7-2026-24, Release No. 33-11426). The 60-day comment window follows Chair Atkins's May 20 statement pausing the 24-plus Roundhill, Bitwise, and GraniteShares event-contract ETF filings, and formalizes the public-input process he had signaled. It is the SEC's first rulemaking-track document, rather than a chairman statement, to squarely address whether and how prediction-market ETFs can be registered.
Chair Atkins published a formal SEC statement on novel exchange-traded funds, expressing appreciation that fund sponsors have voluntarily delayed effectiveness of event-contract ETFs while the commission evaluates implications. He instructed staff to open a public comment period so the SEC can weigh investor-protection, disclosure, and inter-agency jurisdiction questions before any prediction-market ETF launches. The statement marks the first formal SEC-chairman communication specifically addressing prediction-market ETFs and goes beyond the two prior procedural delays (May 4 and May 11) by establishing a deliberate public-input process. Relevant to Roundhill, Bitwise, GraniteShares, and Tema products in the CFTC-SEC pipeline.
For the second time in two weeks, the SEC paused effectiveness of the 24+ Roundhill / Bitwise / GraniteShares prediction-market ETFs, pushing the launch window to May 18 while scrutinizing disclosures on catastrophic-loss risk, finality of disputed events, and binary payout structure. Reports characterized this as procedural rather than a rejection; the CFTC publicly backed the sector.
At the 13th Annual Conference on Financial Markets Regulation, Commissioner Hester Peirce devoted a portion of her remarks to prediction markets, observing they have "taken off … and show no sign of slowing down" and that they were not on her radar when she joined the SEC in 2018. She acknowledged CFTC primary jurisdiction over event contracts while signaling SEC interest in how event-based and tokenized products fit within securities rules. First direct on-record SEC commissioner discussion of PMs in 2026.
Chair Atkins outlined four areas of forthcoming SEC rulemaking: onchain trading systems, broker-dealer status for DEX user interfaces, instant settlement infrastructure, and crypto vault / yield apps. He framed the program as a notice-and-comment replacement for the prior enforcement-driven approach. Relevant to PM operators testing onchain models (Polymarket's USDC settlement, Bitnomial integrations) and any outcome-token interface.
As the 75-day automatic-effectiveness window for 24 prediction-market ETF filings from Roundhill, Bitwise, and GraniteShares wound down, the SEC asked issuers for additional information on product mechanics and disclosures, postponing launches scheduled for the week of May 5. The funds would track election, recession, layoff, and other binary event-contract outcomes traded on CFTC-regulated venues including Kalshi.
The Robinhood/Susquehanna/MIAX JV (Rothera, 45/45/10) self-certified its initial slate of CFTC event contracts covering baseball games, weekly jobless claims, and the core PCE price index, with listings targeted on or after May 20, 2026. Marks Robinhood's transition from Kalshi reseller to operator of its own CFTC-licensed DCM via MIAXdx infrastructure.
Atkins became the first sitting SEC Chair to address the Bitcoin conference, telling ~40,000 attendees that the SEC's era of "regulation through enforcement" is over and laying out the Advance-Clarify-Transform (ACT) strategy. He confirmed four of five SEC token-taxonomy categories are not securities and previewed an innovation exemption / tokenization sandbox arriving "in weeks." Implications for outcome-token issuance models.
The SEC and CFTC jointly issued an interpretation establishing a five-category digital-asset taxonomy and clarifying when outcome-linked tokens and fan tokens fall inside or outside the securities laws. The interpretation explicitly addresses fan tokens as digital collectibles — relevant to platforms attempting to issue outcome-linked tokens.
The SEC and CFTC signed an MOU covering six coordination areas, explicitly contemplating joint handling of event contracts and prediction markets among the resolved jurisdictional items. Analysts describe the MOU as the formal interagency mechanism for resolving open jurisdictional questions on event contracts.
Chair Atkins' testimony before the House Financial Services Committee discussed SEC-CFTC coordination and referenced prediction markets and event contracts in the context of pending market-structure legislation and SEC jurisdictional boundaries over securities-linked outcomes.
In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee and subsequent CNBC remarks, Chair Atkins called prediction markets a "huge issue" involving "overlapping jurisdiction," said "a security is a security," and stated the SEC "has enough authority" to regulate the space. He described pre-news-driven trades as "disturbing" and confirmed the SEC, DOJ, and CFTC are focused on insider-trading risks on prediction platforms.
The SEC filed civil charges (D. Colo. 25-cv-04102) against Morocoin Tech, Berge Blockchain, Cirkor, and four investment clubs that marketed nonexistent Security Token Offerings via WhatsApp. The complaint cites "AI-driven prediction" pitches and fraudulent outcome-linked tokens — a fact pattern that overlaps with unregulated prediction-style DeFi venues.
Chair Atkins laid out the next phase of Project Crypto, including a token taxonomy and refined Howey analysis. The framework and proposed "Regulation Crypto" directly affect outcome-linked tokens and crypto-settled event contracts, including Polymarket's USDC rails.
At the joint roundtable, Commissioner Uyeda framed agency harmonization as the vehicle for legitimizing novel venues, including event-contract platforms, without forcing them offshore. He specifically cited prediction-market growth as a test case for the harmonization effort.
At the September 29 joint roundtable, Chair Atkins framed prediction markets and event contracts as the clearest illustration of jurisdictional ambiguity between the SEC and CFTC, and committed to eliminating "regulatory arbitrage opportunities" between the two agencies' product regimes. He signaled openness to security-based event contracts trading on DCMs.
The SEC published the three-panel agenda for the September 29 joint roundtable at SEC headquarters. Panels covered product and venue definitions, portfolio margining, and prediction-market platform oversight, with panelists from both DCM and national securities exchange operators.
SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham committed both agencies to "work together to provide clarity for innovators listing event contracts on prediction markets responsibly, including those based on securities." The statement named prediction markets as a priority harmonization area and announced the September 29, 2025 joint roundtable.
The SEC Division of Trading and Markets and CFTC Division of Market Oversight jointly stated that current law does not prohibit SEC- and CFTC-registered exchanges from facilitating leveraged spot commodity and certain digital-asset products. The statement is a staff precursor to broader harmonization that implicates event-contract venue design.
In her SEC Speaks address, Commissioner Peirce described the Crypto Task Force's rule-first approach and referenced cooperative work with the CFTC on boundary questions. The framing later produced the September 2025 joint statement on event contracts.
Crypto Task Force lead Commissioner Hester Peirce issued a companion statement endorsing the Division of Corporation Finance disclosure guidance and inviting industry — including event-contract and outcome-token issuers — to engage the Task Force. Peirce referenced ongoing jurisdictional work with the CFTC on event contracts.
Corporation Finance issued disclosure guidance for securities offerings in crypto asset markets, including tokens that may be part of investment contracts. The framework applies to any prediction-market or event-contract platform whose native token or outcome token is sold as part of a capital raise.
The SEC formally closed its investigation into Crypto.com with no enforcement action. Crypto.com operates Crypto.com Derivatives North America, a CFTC-registered DCM active in event contracts; the closure reduced overhang on its U.S. derivatives expansion.
Division of Corporation Finance staff concluded that transactions in meme coins — speculative, sentiment-driven crypto assets — generally do not involve the offer and sale of securities under the Securities Act. Industry observers note the speculative-collectible framing has been cited by prediction-market platforms to argue outcome tokens fall outside SEC jurisdiction.
The SEC sent Robinhood a letter concluding its investigation into Robinhood Crypto without an enforcement action following a May 2024 Wells Notice. The closure signaled the new administration's retreat from an enforcement-first posture toward crypto-adjacent retail products offered by broker-dealer affiliates of event-contract venues.
The SEC imposed combined civil penalties of $45 million on Robinhood Financial and Robinhood Securities for recordkeeping, anti-money-laundering, short-sale, and investor-protection failures. The action affects the broker-dealer siblings of Robinhood Derivatives, which distributes event contracts via partner DCMs.
