Polymarket Seeks to Return to U.S. Market, with CFTC Chairman Michael Selig as Key Decision Maker

April 29 — Prediction market platform Polymarket is in talks with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to lift a four-year ban, aiming to reopen its Polygon-based mainnet for U.S. users — with settlements in USDC stablecoin. In 2022, Polymarket parent Blockratize paid a $1.4 million CFTC fine for operating an unregistered platform and was ordered to bar U.S. users. What makes this round of negotiations unusual? Only CFTC Chairman Michael Selig is currently in office out of the commission’s five seats — meaning he alone will decide the proposal’s fate. Over the past year, Selig has repeatedly backed prediction markets: In February, he threatened to sue any state interfering with CFTC oversight; in March, he released compliance guidelines and sought industry input; this month, he warned pushing prediction markets offshore could trigger an FTX-like collapse. But the “single-decision maker” dynamic is drawing scrutiny. Analysts caution that moving forward without full commission consensus could set the stage for policy reversals — new commissioners could overturn Selig’s solo ruling at any time once vacant seats are filled. If approved, Polymarket’s mainnet would become the first crypto-native platform to fall under the U.S. federal derivatives regulatory framework. It would also end the prior gray area where U.S. users bypassed the ban via VPNs. Neither Polymarket nor the CFTC has commented on the talks.