‘Too few guardrails,' CFTC’s Johnson warns on prediction market risks

Outgoing CFTC Commissioner Kristin Johnson said prediction markets pose risks to retail investors, and slammed companies exploiting license loopholes for event betting.

Outgoing Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson warned that prediction markets pose increasing risks to retail investors. She cited a lack of oversight and regulatory clarity as primary concerns.

In her farewell public address on Wednesday, Johnson voiced concern that some market participants are offering leveraged prediction market contracts to retail investors without clear regulatory boundaries.

“As of today, we have too few guardrails and too little visibility into the prediction market landscape,” she said in a farewell speech at the Brookings Institution. “There is an urgent need for the commission to express in a clear voice our expectations related to these contracts,” she added.

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