Michael Selig, Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has called for financial regulations to be adapted for the rise of autonomous AI agents that can manage assets and execute transactions without human intervention. Speaking at the CFTC’s inaugural Frontier Forum in Washington, Selig warned that existing rules were built for identifiable traders, not for systems that can act independently.
Selig used a striking example involving Ethereum: a smart refrigerator could generate income by staking ETH or even launch a memecoin, then use that income for grocery purchases. He argued that such scenarios are no longer science fiction. The chairman raised key legal questions, including whether developers of AI agents should face registration obligations, who is liable for unauthorized trades, and how regulators can identify the humans behind automated systems. He suggested a new Know Your Agent mechanism as a complement to traditional know-your-customer checks.
Adoption of AI-driven investing is already significant. An eToro survey from September showed that 79% of U.S. millennial investors and 77% of Gen Z investors use or are open to using AI for investment decisions. Selig also cautioned that if many autonomous systems rely on similar models, they could produce correlated trading and amplify price swings, echoing a 2025 Bank of England warning. Crypto platforms are already responding: Coinbase introduced Agentic Wallets in February, allowing agents to spend and trade within user-set limits, while Binance launched AI Agent Skills in March for market information and spot order management.
