Trump to Meet Crypto and Prediction Market Execs at Wednesday's White House Meeting

Bloomberg reported that President Trump would join the gathering of crypto and prediction market executives at the White House on Wednesday afternoon. 

The session is said to be the kickoff event ahead of the first formal meeting of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's new Innovation Advisory Committee the following day.

A mix of crypto founders and Wall Street veterans

Politico first reported last Thursday that the White House would host crypto and prediction market executives, but at the time, Trump's attendance was not confirmed. 

It was later shared on Friday that the President was expected to be there after all. CFTC Chair Michael Selig is also expected to attend alongside SEC Chair Paul Atkins. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick may also join.

The guest list spans both crypto firms and established financial institutions. Names include executives from Coinbase, Ripple, Gemini, Robinhood, Polymarket, Kalshi, a16z, Chainlink and Paradigm.

Representatives from The Digital Chamber and Patrick Witt, who serves as executive director of the President's Council of Advisers for Digital Assets, would be in attendance. Traditional finance will be represented too, with leaders from CME Group, Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange and the DTCC invited.

Many of these individuals currently sit on the CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee. This is a 35-member panel Selig named back in February. Its ranks include Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour and Ripple chief executive Brad Garlinghouse.

The committee holds its first official meeting on Thursday. The agenda for that meeting splits the session into three parts covering crypto regulation, AI and prediction markets. They also added a segment to discuss what a federal market structure would still need to address.

Legislative and legal pressure builds around the visit

The meeting comes during a rough stretch for crypto policy in the U.S. The CLARITY Act is still stuck in the Senate, as  Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture to set up a procedural vote for September 15 after members failed to reach a conclusion before it went on its recess. 

The legislation moving forward still depends on whether Trump would agree to tighter ethics rules, especially with his personal ties to the crypto industry. This has been a major sticking point that drew scrutiny from lawmakers. For instance, it was reported last week that World Liberty Financial received investment from a businessman investigated for money laundering.

Prediction markets are also facing their own legal problems heading into the meeting. Baltimore sued Kalshi and Polymarket last Thursday over sports-related contracts. They also pulled Coinbase, Robinhood and Webull into the dispute as well.

Also, a Washington state court ordered Kalshi to halt most of its offerings in that state on the same day. Selig said that the CFTC holds exclusive federal authority over event contracts and has sued the states banning Kalshi and Polymarket. In fact, the commission told Kalshi to keep operating in New York despite the ban.

The President had backed prediction markets publicly, calling exclusive CFTC jurisdiction over prediction markets "critically important.”