A colourful speech was delivered on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., during Seliga’s address at the first Frontier Forum organised by the CFTC. He stated that regulators must adapt to a financial system in which AI agents can hold assets and execute trades autonomously, reports cointelegraph-ru.com.
“We are gathered here today to discuss a technology that is rapidly transforming financial markets. President Trump calls it ‘superintelligence’, or SI, because ‘it is not artificial’. It is as real as the printing press, the steam engine and the internet,” he said.
According to Selig, the CFTC’s regulatory framework was designed around ‘identifiable market participants’ performing specific financial functions; however, autonomous software raises questions about the applicability of these rules.
‘Imagine an SI agent that identifies trading opportunities and executes trades on behalf of the user,’ said Selig.
“Is the developer of this agent obliged to register? Who is liable if the agent gets out of control? How can regulators find out on whose behalf an agent – or a whole set of agents – is trading? Do we need a new version of the ‘know your customer’ procedure – perhaps KYA, or ‘know your agent’?”
AI can democratise trading, but create new risks
Selig stated that AI could provide retail traders and companies with access to risk management tools that were previously available only to large institutions.
“AI can process a vast amount of information much faster than the human brain and with greater accuracy,” he said.
However, greater autonomy also brings new risks. According to him, agents may react unexpectedly to market conditions, whilst users of identical models may exhibit correlated trading behaviour. The speed of autonomous transactions may also complicate market supervision and risk management.
Animoca Brands Chairman Yat Siu recently expressed similar concerns, telling Cointelegraph that a thousand people asking an AI about the same trade might receive roughly the same response. He said that users’ own knowledge and follow-up questions help to shape more personalised strategies.
Last year, the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee also warned that widespread use of identical models could exacerbate market volatility.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are already developing tools for autonomous trading.
In February, Coinbase introduced Agentic Wallets, which allow agents to spend funds and trade within limits set by the user, whilst Binance launched AI Agent Skills in March to provide market data and tools for placing and managing spot orders.
This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.The translation was also reviewed by the Logos Press editorial team.
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