Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.
Several spot cryptocurrency products could launch on regulated U.S. exchanges as soon as next month, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chair Caroline Pham has confirmed.
“True,” Pham said Sunday on X in response to a CoinDesk report that said she is in talks with regulated exchanges to launch spot cryptocurrency offerings, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
The move comes amid a record government shutdown that has delayed legislation that could see the CFTC play a central role in regulating cryptocurrency spot markets.
Don’t Miss:
“As we continue to work with Congress on bringing legislative clarity to these markets, we are also using existing authorities to swiftly implement recommendations in the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets report,” Pham told CoinDesk.
President Donald Trump established the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets in January to make cryptocurrency policy recommendations to ensure the U.S. leads in responsible innovation in the space. The working group, largely composed of the heads of several U.S. regulatory agencies, in July released a report recommending, among other things, that the U.S. establish clear cryptocurrency market structure rules with the CFTC as the primary regulator.
While action in Congress stalls, Pham is moving ahead, leveraging existing provisions in the Commodity Exchange Act.
Trending: Wall Street’s $12B Real Estate Manager Is Opening Its Doors to Individual Investors — Without the Crowdfunding Middlemen
According to CoinDesk, the spot cryptocurrency offerings being discussed by Pham include leveraged products, which would allow traders to amplify their positions using borrowed funds from the broker or exchange. These products would be offered on so-called designated contract markets, which are exchanges licensed by the CFTC to offer standardized futures and options contracts.
DCMs include Cboe Digital Exchange, ICE Futures U.S., Coinbase Derivatives, Bitnomial and prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket. Cryptocurrency-focused exchanges such as Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and Bitnomial will likely be first to market, sources told CoinDesk.
Bringing these spot cryptocurrency products, which have long existed on offshore exchanges, to regulated exchanges could lead to greater institutional cryptocurrency adoption due to familiar protections.