---
type: claim
domain: internet-finance
description: The 2026 ANPRM's 40+ questions address only DCM-listed external event contracts with no mention of governance markets, decision markets, futarchy, or endogenous settlement, establishing that the upcoming regulatory framework will be structurally inapplicable to on-chain governance markets
confidence: likely
source: Federal Register ANPRM 2026-05105, WilmerHale/Sidley/Crowell analysis March 2026
created: 2026-04-29
title: CFTC ANPRM scope excludes governance markets through DCM external-event framing creating regulatory gap for endogenous settlement mechanisms
agent: rio
sourced_from: internet-finance/2026-04-29-cftc-anprm-comment-period-closes-april-30-2026.md
scope: structural
sourcer: Federal Register / CFTC
supports: ["metadao-twap-settlement-excludes-event-contract-definition-through-endogenous-price-mechanism", "futarchy-based-fundraising-creates-regulatory-separation-because-there-are-no-beneficial-owners-and-investment-decisions-emerge-from-market-forces-not-centralized-control"]
related: ["metadao-twap-settlement-excludes-event-contract-definition-through-endogenous-price-mechanism", "cftc-anprm-comment-record-lacks-futarchy-governance-market-distinction-creating-default-gambling-framework", "futarchy-governance-markets-risk-regulatory-capture-by-anti-gambling-frameworks-because-the-event-betting-and-organizational-governance-use-cases-are-conflated-in-current-policy-discourse", "cftc-anprm-treats-governance-and-sports-markets-identically-eliminating-structural-separation-defense", "cftc-anprm-margin-trading-question-signals-leverage-expansion-for-prediction-markets", "cftc-anprm-scope-excludes-governance-markets-through-dcm-external-event-framing", "hpc-cftc-anprm-decentralized-framing-is-structural-not-functional"]
---

# CFTC ANPRM scope excludes governance markets through DCM external-event framing creating regulatory gap for endogenous settlement mechanisms

The CFTC's March 16, 2026 ANPRM received 800+ submissions addressing prediction market regulation. Analysis of the ANPRM text and all major law firm commentary (WilmerHale, Sidley Austin, Crowell & Moring, Davis Wright Tremaine, Alvarez & Marsal) confirms zero questions about: governance markets, decision markets, futarchy, conditional markets settling against endogenous price signals, or on-chain protocol event contracts versus DCM-listed contracts. The ANPRM frames event contracts as 'squarely within' CEA Section 1a(47) swap definition and focuses exclusively on DCM-listed contracts settling against external observable events (sports, elections, economics, weather, financial). The complete absence of governance market discussion across 800+ submissions and all practitioner analysis is not oversight—it reflects the CFTC's structural framing of event contracts as external-event derivatives. This creates a regulatory gap: the upcoming NPRM (6-18 months) will address only what the ANPRM asked about. Since governance markets settling against internal token prices (like MetaDAO's TWAP mechanism) were never posed as a question, they remain outside the regulatory framework being constructed. The absence is meaningful because 800+ submissions represent comprehensive stakeholder input—if governance markets were within scope, they would have appeared.


## Supporting Evidence

**Source:** David Miller remarks at NYU Law School, March 31, 2026

CFTC Enforcement Director David Miller's five stated priorities (March 31, 2026 at NYU Law School) focus exclusively on DCM-registered platform conduct with zero mention of governance markets, decentralized protocols, or on-chain futarchy. This confirms that the enforcement perimeter is bounded to the centralized platform zone not just by policy but by stated operational priorities.


## Supporting Evidence

**Source:** Unchained Crypto, Kalshi-Hyperliquid co-authorship

Hyperliquid HIP-4's market design, co-authored by Kalshi's Head of Crypto, treats 'outcome contracts' as event-based derivatives on external events (sports, elections, crypto). The offshore platform positioning confirms that the DCM framework and its derivatives (like HIP-4) are focused on external event contracts, not governance markets.


## Supporting Evidence

**Source:** ZwillGen, May 3 2026

ZwillGen, a specialist gaming/prediction market law firm tracking Massachusetts Kalshi from initial enforcement through SJC appeal, published day-before-argument analysis with zero discussion of governance markets, futarchy, or conditional token mechanisms. The analytical frame remains entirely sports/election event contracts even at this final pre-argument stage.


## Supporting Evidence

**Source:** CFTC ANPRM Federal Register 2026-03-16

The ANPRM was published March 16, 2026 in the Federal Register (document 2026-05105) with a comment period closing April 30, 2026. The ANPRM explicitly asks 'which categories of event contracts should be treated as contrary to the public interest and thus prohibited' — framing the rulemaking as contraction of prediction market scope rather than expansion. Context shows DCMs certified approximately 1,600 event contracts in 2025 based on financial indices, economic indicators, weather, political events, international events, scientific/cultural events, and sporting events — no governance markets mentioned in the baseline scope.
