CFTC’s Top Cop Office Wiped Out Amid Crypto Expansion Push

According to a Barron’s report, the CFTC’s Chicago enforcement team, which once employed 20 enforcement attorneys, has been reduced to zero. The office, responsible for handling the agency’s most complex litigation, had already been slashed to a single lawyer before that final enforcement attorney resigned. This represents the complete elimination of the office’s litigation team. Former CFTC enforcement lawyers, including a chief trial attorney with 26 years of service, told Barron’s they believed the moves were targeted, given the Chicago office’s particular expertise. That expertise was demonstrated in securing multi-billion dollar settlements from major crypto companies like FTX and Binance.

The staff reductions were part of a broader trend under the leadership of Caroline Pham, who served as acting chair in 2025. Pham oversaw a reduction of the CFTC’s total staff by over 21% last year. Notably, Pham has since transitioned to the private sector, now working for the crypto company MoonPay. The stark contrast between shrinking enforcement resources and expanding regulatory ambitions has created a significant vulnerability. As one laid-off lawyer starkly warned Barron’s, “If I was a different person I would launch a crypto scam right now, because there’s no cops on the beat.”

This massive reduction in enforcement capability comes precisely as the CFTC, under the Trump administration’s direction, has raced to absorb the crypto and prediction market industries into its jurisdiction. The agency’s leadership has championed its dominion over the vast majority of the cryptocurrency market and the controversial realm of prediction market platforms, which are overwhelmingly sports-related. This represents a dramatic expansion of the CFTC’s purview into some of the fastest-moving and most technically complex areas of modern finance.

However, experts have raised serious doubts about the agency’s preparedness for this new role. Recent analysis provided to Decrypt suggests the CFTC is “woefully unequipped” to investigate potential insider trading on the thousands of prediction markets it now seeks to regulate. The combination of a hollowed-out enforcement division and a vastly expanded, technically demanding mandate creates a dangerous regulatory gap. The agency’s effectiveness has already been severely impacted, as evidenced by a catastrophic drop in monetary relief secured for investors—from $17.1 billion in fiscal year 2024 to just $9.2 million in 2025, a decline of over 99.9%.

The CFTC’s current leadership has shown reluctance to address the resource gap. During his Senate confirmation hearing in November, the new CFTC chair, Mike Selig, refused to commit to stating that the agency needs additional resources to regulate crypto and prediction markets effectively. Selig’s resistance was notable given the context of the hearing, where top Senate Democrats and Republicans voiced support for increased agency funding to handle its new responsibilities.

This stance has drawn direct criticism from lawmakers. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) pointedly questioned Selig’s position, stating, “I don’t know why it’s hard to say we need more staff.” The bipartisan concern in Congress highlights the perceived disconnect between the agency’s shrinking enforcement capabilities—exemplified by the wiped-out Chicago office—and its ballooning regulatory ambitions over crypto and prediction markets. The CFTC did not respond to a request for comment from Decrypt on this story, leaving these critical questions about regulatory readiness unanswered as two dynamic market sectors continue to expand with diminished oversight.