Trump Reportedly Set to Meet With Crypto and Prediction Market Leaders at White House

President Donald Trump is expected to meet with senior executives from the cryptocurrency and prediction market industries at the White House on Wednesday, according to multiple reports citing people familiar with the plans. The gathering, set for the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, comes one day before the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee holds its inaugural formal meeting.

CFTC Chairman Mike Selig is also expected to attend, along with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. Reports indicate SEC Chair Paul Atkins may join as well, underscoring how central prediction markets and digital assets have become to the administration’s regulatory agenda.

A Kickoff Before the Real Meeting

The Wednesday session is being described as an informal kickoff ahead of the Innovation Advisory Committee’s first official meeting on Thursday, which runs from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET and will be open to public viewing online. According to a Federal Register notice, the agenda covers three main areas: crypto asset regulation, artificial intelligence, and prediction markets. The prediction markets session is expected to touch on “the respective roles of federal and state authorities in overseeing prediction markets,” along with recent state litigation and enforcement actions — language that directly points to the fight currently playing out between the CFTC and several state regulators.

Invitees reportedly include executives from Coinbase, a16z, Ripple, Chainlink, Kalshi, and Paradigm, along with representatives from The Digital Chamber. Selig named the committee’s 35 members back in February, a roster that includes Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour, and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, alongside executives from major exchanges like Cboe, CME, DTCC, and Nasdaq.

Prediction Markets Under Growing Scrutiny

The timing is notable given how much heat prediction markets have taken in recent days. The CFTC has been conducting an internal review into so-called “mention markets” — contracts where traders bet on whether specific words will come up in a speech, earnings call, or broadcast. Kalshi has already pulled its sports-related mention markets in response to the inquiry.

That’s on top of a much bigger legal fight: New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a $36 billion civil enforcement action against Kalshi earlier this month, alleging the platform is running an unlicensed gambling operation and offering sports contracts to users as young as 18 — three years below the state’s mobile sports betting age minimum. The CFTC responded by invoking rarely used emergency powers under Section 8a(9) of the Commodity Exchange Act, directing Kalshi to keep operating nationwide despite the lawsuit.

Selig has consistently argued that the CFTC holds exclusive federal jurisdiction over event contracts, a position that puts the agency in direct conflict with a coalition of 44 state attorneys general who contend that sports-related prediction contracts are simply state-regulated gambling wearing a derivatives label. A federal appellate court gave the CFTC a partial win in April, ruling the Commodity Exchange Act likely preempts state gambling laws for sports event contracts traded on CFTC-licensed exchanges — but the broader legal question is far from settled and many expect it to eventually reach the Supreme Court.

Why It Matters for Sports Betting

The overlap between prediction markets and traditional sportsbooks keeps growing. Selig has drawn a distinction between the two, framing prediction markets as financial instruments rather than entertainment products, but operators like DraftKings and FanDuel have taken notice of the regulatory momentum around event contracts. The CFTC previously signed a memorandum of understanding with MLB to address integrity concerns tied to sports-based contracts, and similar conversations with the NBA and NFL are reportedly in progress.

Selig has been pushing this integration for months. Back in March, he stood alongside MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to sign an information-sharing agreement, arguing that the CFTC needs league expertise to identify which contracts are “readily susceptible to manipulation.” That guidance already flagged injury- and officiating-related markets as areas of concern, with a formal rulemaking process expected to expand that list. If Kalshi and Polymarket want to advertise during live broadcasts the way sportsbooks do, they’ll reportedly need league authorization and official data licensing — the same model operators like DraftKings and FanDuel already pay for.

Bettors tracking the space should expect Thursday’s committee meeting to shape how sports-related contracts are treated going forward, including which markets face restrictions and how exchanges coordinate with pro leagues on manipulation safeguards. For fans who prefer traditional, regulated sportsbook options while this regulatory battle plays out, most major operators continue to offer standard markets unaffected by the prediction market dispute, and bettors can compare current lines through live betting odds pages that track the major U.S. sportsbooks side by side.

With sports event contracts drawing this level of White House attention, the coming weeks could bring the clearest signal yet on whether prediction markets and sports betting stay on separate regulatory tracks — or increasingly collide.