CFTC’s Caroline Pham targets December launch for leveraged spot crypto trading
The post CFTC’s Caroline Pham targets December launch for leveraged spot crypto trading appeared com. Acting Commodities Futures Trading Commission Chairman Caroline Pham is pushing for the launch of leveraged spot crypto trading as soon as next month and has already held direct talks with regulated exchanges to bring the products to market. Summary CFTC acting chair Caroline Pham is working with regulated exchanges to launch leveraged spot crypto trading by December. Trump nominee Mike Selig is set to replace Pham as permanent CFTC chair once confirmed by the Senate. Speaking to CoinDesk, Pham said she expects the new products to “begin trading in our markets before year’s end.” “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,” she said. Leveraged spot crypto trading lets investors use borrowed money to boost their exposure to real cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ether. Instead of speculating on future prices through contracts, they actually trade the asset itself. To do this, traders put up a fraction of the trade’s value as margin, and the rest is covered by financing from the exchange or broker. At present, crypto traders in the U. S. can access leveraged trading through offshore platforms like Binance or OKX; however, these platforms lack the regulatory oversight and investor protections provided by federal agencies. Instead, Pham wants to bring this activity onto regulated U. S. exchanges, which would allow investors to trade the spot asset with leverage under well-defined rules and supervision that offers institutional-grade oversight, risk management standards, and investor protections. These products would be available on designated contract markets, or DCMs, which are federally regulated exchanges authorized to offer commodity trading to U. S. participants. Those that are already active in crypto markets are expected to move quickly to introduce leveraged spot.