Trump Hosts Crypto Chiefs, Snubs Prediction Markets
President Donald Trump hosted finance, technology and cryptocurrency executives at the White House on August 19, 2026, a day before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's newly formed Innovation Advisory Committee held its first meeting.
Prediction market platforms Polymarket and Kalshi, both of which sit on that same CFTC committee, were left off the White House guest list.
The Roosevelt Room gathering, reported by The Epoch Times, brought together CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and executives from firms including Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, Chainlink and Andreessen Horowitz, alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Why Prediction Markets Were Left Out
According to Semafor, a White House official confirmed that prediction market firms initially expected to attend the kick-off event were excluded after organisers decided to focus the gathering solely on crypto.
One person familiar with the planning told Semafor it would be "bad optics to have the prediction markets sitting in the room" following the recent suspension of a White House teleprompter operator over allegations he used Kalshi to bet on Trump's own speeches.
The snub follows earlier reporting, including from Politico on August 13, that both crypto and prediction market representatives were expected at the event, underscoring how quickly the administration's posture toward prediction markets shifted in the days before the meeting.
Innovation Committee Convenes Next
At the White House event, Trump said his administration was "ensuring that America remains the undisputed leader in technologies like prediction markets, artificial intelligence, and much more," according to The Epoch Times, and urged lawmakers to pass the Clarity Act to create a federal framework for digital assets. Selig used the event to draw a contrast with the CFTC's approach under the prior administration.
The CFTC's 35-member Innovation Advisory Committee, which does include Polymarket and Kalshi among its members, was scheduled to hold its first meeting the following day, giving prediction market firms their first real opportunity for a seat at the table even without a White House invitation.
For an industry watching prediction markets edge closer to maintream betting sites regulation in the US, the exclusion is a reminder that political access and regulatory access are not moving in lockstep.
