Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mike Selig told CoinDesk that the agency will continue to defend its "exclusive regulatory authority" to oversee prediction markets in court. "It doesn't matter if it's on sports, politics or anything else, if it's a validly offered product within a CFTC-regulated exchange, then we regulate that," Selig said. NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is just defending its territory in suing states over prediction markets, the regulator's head told CoinDesk. CFTC Chairman Mike Selig, speaking on the sidelines of the Digital Assets and Emerging Tech Policy Summit hosted by Vanderbilt University and the Blockchain Association on Monday, said the agency's lawsuits against Arizona, Illinois and Connecticut make it "very clear … that the CFTC has exclusive regulatory authority when it comes to commodity derivatives markets." Selig, who is speaking at CoinDesk's Consensus Miami conference next month, said Monday's Third Circuit Court ruling that the CFTC has to oversee prediction markets bolstered his agency's view. Under Selig, the CFTC has embarked on a major litigation effort to bolster prediction markets' arguments that they are providing derivatives products under the Commodity Exchange Act, rather than gambling services regulated by states. "Our view is that the statute is very clear that when you offer a swap on a federally regulated Designated Contract Market, that transaction, those trades, are subject to federal regulation," he said. "It doesn't matter if it's on sports, politics or anything else; if it's a validly offered product within a CFTC-regulated exchange, then we regulate that, and the states don't have the ability to nullify federal oversight and substitute gambling laws where derivatives laws apply." Asked why the CFTC did not sue Nevada or Massachusetts — two states that have successfully secured preliminary injunctions against prediction market providers — Selig said that "I wouldn