The top U.S. derivatives regulator on Wednesday sketched out a near future in which software agents, not people, hunt for trading opportunities and execute them in crypto markets, and said the agency’s rulebook may need a new identity-check regime to keep up.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Michael Selig told an audience at the agency’s inaugural Frontier Forum in Washington that the convergence of advanced machine intelligence, crypto and modern financial plumbing could reshape markets. He said such systems could widen access to sophisticated financial tools, sharpen how businesses manage risk and spawn new kinds of economic activity.

Selig, who asked that the technology be called “superintelligence” or SI rather than…