An Unlikely Crypto Champion Emerges at the CFTC
Caroline Pham wasn’t supposed to be a permanent fixture at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Appointed as acting chairman during a transitional period, she could have easily kept the seat warm for a more permanent successor. But that’s not what happened.
Instead, Pham, a former senior executive at banking giant Citi, took the temporary role and ran with it—aggressively. She launched what she called a “crypto sprint,” pushing forward the pro-crypto aims outlined in President Donald Trump’s executive orders. This put her agency on a parallel track with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s own “Project Crypto,” creating something of a regulatory race.
What’s interesting, I think, is how she operated for months as the only member of what’s meant to be a five-member commission. That’s a lot of responsibility for one person, especially in a complex area like crypto regulation.
Reversing Course on Enforcement
One of her first major moves was to halt and reverse the CFTC’s enforcement practices. The agency had been devoting what many considered outsized attention to crypto cases. Pham changed that direction.
In recent weeks, her agency began a pilot program that’s actually quite significant. It allows the use of crypto assets—bitcoin and Ethereum’s ether specifically—as tokenized collateral in the derivatives market. Bitnomial was the first exchange to participate in this program.
Then there’s the “actual delivery” guidance. Pham moved to shed the agency’s existing guidance on how this term is defined in digital assets transactions. The goal, it seems, is to make way for a friendlier approach that better accommodates how crypto actually works.
Pushing Retail Products Forward
As 2025 was winding down, Pham accomplished what she’d been working toward all year. She encouraged CFTC-regulated platforms to launch retail leveraged spot crypto products. Again, Bitnomial led the way, moving forward with such trading in December.
This development is important for a few reasons. For one, it could take some pressure off the congressional work toward a market structure bill. That legislation was expected to give the CFTC more direct and explicit authority over crypto spot trading. But if the agency is already moving forward with these products under existing authority, perhaps the urgency for new legislation diminishes.
Pham has been quite open about her intentions. She routinely said she was seeking to help Trump usher in his promises for a “golden age of crypto.” That’s straightforward language, not the usual regulatory speak.
What Comes Next
The acting chairman has also been public about her plans to return to the private sector once she’s replaced by a permanent chairman. The replacement process hit a snag when Trump abandoned his first choice, former Commissioner Brian Quintenz. Then Mike Selig, an SEC official, became the nominee. His confirmation is now poised for a final Senate vote.
It’s worth noting how unusual this situation is. An acting regulator pushing through significant policy changes while awaiting replacement isn’t the standard playbook. But then again, the crypto space hasn’t followed many traditional patterns.
Pham’s tenure shows how much can be accomplished in a relatively short time when there’s both political will and regulatory flexibility. Whether these changes will stick once permanent leadership is in place remains to be seen. But for now, the CFTC under Pham has become a surprisingly active player in shaping how crypto interacts with traditional financial markets.
Perhaps the most telling aspect is how she transformed what could have been a caretaker role into a period of substantial regulatory movement. That’s not something you see every day in Washington.
