TLDR Six Democratic senators wrote to the CFTC urging a clear ban on prediction market contracts tied to death or injury The letter was led by Sen. Adam Schiff and sent to CFTC Chairman Michael Selig Federal rules already ban contracts linked to terrorism, assassination, and war — senators want death-related contracts added explicitly The letter called out Polymarket contracts on a NASA explosion, Venezuela’s Maduro, and Russia’s Ukraine invasion The CFTC recently reasserted exclusive federal jurisdiction over commodity derivatives markets
Six Democratic senators are calling on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to explicitly ban prediction market contracts that are tied to a person’s death or injury.
The letter was sent Monday to CFTC Chairman Michael Selig. It was led by Sen. Adam Schiff of California.
The other senators who signed are Richard Blumenthal, Cory Booker, Tim Kaine, Catherine Cortez Masto, and Jacky Rosen.
The senators say these contracts “incentivize physical injury or death” and “present dangerous national security risks.” They want Selig to make clear the CFTC will “categorically prohibit” any contract that resolves on or closely relates to someone’s death.
The letter points out that federal commodity rules already ban contracts linked to terrorism, assassination, and war. The senators argue death-related contracts should fall under the same rules.
The letter specifically named three recent contracts on Polymarket. These involved predicting a NASA spaceship explosion, the removal of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, and the Russian military capturing a Ukrainian town.
The senators wrote that these examples show “a lack of internal controls and safeguards to prevent insiders from profiting off non-public information.”
They also said the contracts represent “direct profiteering off of human suffering.”
Prediction Markets Under Growing Scrutiny
Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi have grown quickly in popularity. This growth has brought more regulatory