US CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham Confirms Push To Launch Leveraged Spot Crypto Trading
US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Acting Chair Caroline Pham confirmed that the regulator is in talks with exchanges to launch spot crypto trading and leveraged offerings.
Pham had held talks with multiple CFTC-regulated designated contracts markets (DCMs) exchanges, which included giants such as CME, Cboe Futures Exchange, and ICE Futures, according to a report by CoinDesk.
She also met with crypto-native firms such as Coinbase Derivatives, Kalshi, and Polymarket US regarding launching spot crypto trading products that involve margin, leverage, and financing.
With leveraged spot crypto trading, investors are able to borrow funds to amplify their positions in digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). This gives them the opportunity to amplify gains or losses.
In those products, traders would typically put up a portion of the total trade value as collateral, which is also known as margin. For example, a trader would be able to open a $5,000 position on Bitcoin using only $1,000 of their own capital.
Leveraged trading has been available on offshore platforms for years now, but opening up leveraged trading on CFTC-regulated platforms could bring institutional-grade oversight and risk management standards.
CFTC Working On Swiftly Implementing The White House’s Recommendations
The CFTC’s direct talks with DCMs and crypto-native firms comes after the agency received recommendations from the White House’s digital asset working group on how to better regulate the crypto industry.
The working group made a total of 18 recommendations to the CFTC. Two of the recommendations concerned the CFTC directly, while the remaining 16 concerned the CFTC and other agencies such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The CFTC has started carrying out those recommendations under its “Crypto Sprint” initiative.
Pham said in a recent statement that as the CFTC continues to work with Congress “on bringing legislative clarity” to the crypto markets, the agency is also “using existing authorities to swiftly implement recommendations” made in the White House working group’s report.
In that report, the working group also recommended that the CFTC and SEC work together to establish a clear regulatory framework for the crypto market.
Both agencies have since issued joint guidance that clarified that registered exchanges are not prohibited from facilitating the trading of certain spot commodity products, which includes cryptos.
Pham Currently The Only Commissioner At The CFTC
Pham is currently the sole commissioner at the CFTC, with the other four seats vacant. This gives her increased authority to steer the agency.
US President Trump has nominated Mike Selig as the new head of the CFTC, but his confirmation has been delayed by the government shutdown.
Trump had previously nominated Brian Quintenz, but he was dropped from consideration after some high-profile members of the digital asset industry lobbied against his appointment.
Following her tenure at the CFTC, Pham is reportedly expected to join the global crypto payments firm MoonPay as chief legal officer and chief administrative officer.
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