TL;DR:
- The CFTC has formed a CEO Innovation Council spanning CME, Nasdaq, Cboe and crypto firms like Gemini, Kraken and Polymarket to advise on digital assets.
- Acting Chair Caroline Pham wants the council to address tokenization, prediction markets, 24/7 trading and blockchain settlement while fitting them into existing safeguards.
- Guidance and a crypto collateral pilot letting futures merchants accept Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDC as margin show a shift toward onshore integration.
CFTCās governance experiment is bringing major traditional finance and crypto players under one roof, as the derivatives regulator unveils a CEO Innovation Council that will advise on digital assets and market structure, signaling that the agency sees tokenization, prediction markets and 24/7 trading as core features of the next phase of regulated derivatives rather than fringe experiments. For Acting Chair Caroline Pham, the council is a way to āhit the ground runningā on crypto policy.
Thanks to these leaders who are joining the @CFTC CEO Innovation Council to share their expertise on tokenization, crypto, 24/7 trading, perpetuals, prediction markets, blockchain and more šŗšø
– Craig Donohue, @Cboe
– Terry Duffy, @CMEGroup
-ā¦
— Caroline D. Pham (@CarolineDPham) December 10, 2025
Wall Street, crypto natives and new collateral rules reshape CFTCās playbook
Announced this week, the council brings together senior leaders from CME Group, Nasdaq, Intercontinental Exchange and Cboe Global Markets alongside crypto and prediction market executives from Gemini, Kraken, Polymarket, Kalshi, Bitnomial, Crypto.com and Bullish, creating a cross section of Wall Street and on chain platforms to help the CFTC navigate how tokenized assets and blockchain infrastructure fit into established supervisory frameworks. A roster assembled in two weeks underscores the urgency Pham attaches to the project.
According to Pham, the group will focus on āmarket structure developmentsā such as tokenization, crypto assets, perpetual contracts, prediction markets, 24/7 trading and blockchain based settlement, exploring how Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC and even tokenized Treasurys or money market funds can be integrated into futures and swaps markets without sacrificing core safeguards like segregation, enforceability and robust control mechanisms. The mandate builds on earlier efforts like the Crypto CEO Forum and SEC CFTC joint roundtables.
Those initiatives are being matched by concrete rule changes, as the CFTC issues updated guidance on tokenized collateral and launches a pilot letting registered futures commission merchants accept Bitcoin, Ethereum and Circleās USDC as margin, while withdrawing restrictive Staff Advisory 20-34 and adding stricter weekly reporting and custody requirements to balance innovation with investor protection. Support from StarkWare, Coinbase and Plume Network suggests the industry prefers clear onshore rules over ad hoc offshore workarounds.
Timing also matters. Pham has been interim chair for less than a year and is accelerating reforms in what may be the final stretch before President Donald Trumpās nominee Mike Selig takes over as CFTC chair, positioning the council and collateral pilot within a broader pro crypto pivot that includes parallel initiatives at the Securities and Exchange Commission and a goal of making the United States a hub for tokenized finance. Selig will inherit a stack of pilots, guidance and advisory work.
