Overview
- Six Democratic senators, led by Adam Schiff, sent a letter this week asking CFTC Chair Michael Selig to explicitly prohibit contracts that resolve on or closely correlate with an individual's death.
- The letter cites recent Polymarket listings involving a potential Artemis II explosion, the removal of Nicolás Maduro, and the capture of Myrnohad as examples of harmful incentives and insider risk.
- Polymarket said the Artemis II market focused on a booster-stage hardware failure rather than astronaut safety, and it withdrew the listing after public backlash.
- The push comes as the CFTC filed a brief asserting exclusive federal jurisdiction over commodity derivatives and Selig warned states against imposing their own bans in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
- Industry groups said U.S.-regulated platforms already bar death-related contracts and urged enforcement against offshore exchanges, while firms including Polymarket explore re-entry to the U.S. through licensed channels.