Coinbase, Ripple, Solana execs join CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee

The Commodity and Futures Trading Commission expanded its Innovation Advisory Committee to a 35-member panel on Thursday with the addition of executives from leading crypto-facing entities like Coinbase and Ripple, among others. Summary The CFTC has finalized a 35-member Innovation Advisory Committee to help modernize regulatory oversight. Executives from Coinbase, Ripple, Uniswap, and other crypto firms make up the majority of the panel. Chairman Michael Selig said the group will support the agency’s goal to “future-proof” U.S. financial markets. An updated list with 23 new appointments, layered over the original 12 charter members that were designated at launch in late 2025, was published by the commission on Feb. 12.  The committee was formed to help guide the derivatives regulator so it can “future-proof its markets and develop clear rules of the road for the Golden Age of American Financial Markets,” Chairman Michael S. Selig explained. The origins of the committee can be traced back to late 2025 under then‑Acting Chair Caroline Pham, who established the CEO Innovation Council to address the challenges of 24/7 trading, tokenized collateral, and prediction markets, goals that will remain on the agenda of the expanded Innovation Advisory Committee. After Selig’s appointment as the permanent CFTC Chairman, he restructured and rebranded the council as the Innovation Advisory Committee, to officially replace the long-standing Technology Advisory Committee, and nominated the 12 original participants, such as Tyler Winklevoss from Gemini and Shayne Coplan from Polymarket, as charter members. Crypto-native voices dominate The majority of the 35-member committee now hails from digital asset firms. Notably, 20 members are directly involved with the crypto space. Some of the new additions to the list include Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek, a16z crypto Managing Partner Chris Dixon, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith, among others. Meanwhile, executives at Grayscale, Anchorage Digital, Solana Labs, Paradigm, Kraken, Bullish, Chainlink Labs, Bitnomial, Etherealize, and Framework Ventures were also named to the committee. At least five members are tied to prediction markets, including Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour and DraftKings CEO Jason Robins. Other members include executives at major financial institutions such as Nasdaq, CME Group, Cboe Global Markets, Intercontinental Exchange, and the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation. “By bringing together participants from every corner of the marketplace, the IAC will be a major asset for the Commission as we work to modernize our rules and regulations for the innovations of today and tomorrow,” Selig said.