CFTC Chair Says ‘Mass Tokenization’ and 24/7 Onchain Markets Are Already Here

By Isaac • September 23, 2026 3:44 pm •

The head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission says the next version of financial markets is no longer a distant concept. It is arriving through tokenized assets, round-the-clock trading, onchain settlement and increasingly automated finance.

CFTC Chair Michael Selig used a September 22 speech at the 2026 U.S. Treasury Market Conference to argue that regulators and market infrastructure must be ready for what he called “mass tokenization.” His message was not that every market should be moved onto a blockchain tomorrow. It was that the regulatory system has to prepare for technology that is already moving from experiments into live products.

In his official keynote, the CFTC chair said the coming decade could bring more change