CFTC’s Blockchain Bash: Crypto Execs Join the Party 🎉

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My dear, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission-bless their bureaucratic hearts-has decided to jazz up their new CEO Innovation Council with a motley crew of blockchain tycoons and the usual suspects from the stodgy old world of traditional finance. 🏦✨

According to a rather grand announcement on Wednesday, this council will pontificate on market structure developments in the derivatives markets, which, let’s face it, sounds like a riveting evening in. 🥱 The topics du jour? Tokenization, crypto assets, 24/7 trading, perpetual contracts, prediction markets, and blockchain market infrastructure. A veritable smorgasbord of buzzwords! 🍽️💡

Among the glittering attendees are the captains of crypto exchanges and prediction markets like Polymarket, Kalshi, Kraken, Gemini, Bitnomial, Crypto.com, and Bullish. Oh, and let’s not forget their counterparts from the hallowed halls of CME Group, Cboe Global Markets, Nasdaq, Intercontinental Exchange, and the London Stock Exchange Group. Quite the soirée! 🎭🍾

“We’re building on the success of the CFTC Crypto CEO Forum and the SEC-CFTC Joint Roundtable,” remarked acting CFTC Chairman Caroline Pham, no doubt while sipping a martini. “This Innovation Council is specifically focused on market structure developments in derivatives markets.” Cheers to that, darling. 🍸

CFTC’s Latest Gambit: Derivative Market Shenanigans 🎲

Just when you thought the CFTC couldn’t get any more exciting, acting chairman Pham drops a bombshell: a crypto collateral derivatives market pilot program. 🚀 The program allows futures commission merchants to accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Circle’s stablecoin USDC as margin collateral. Because, apparently, crypto in regulated markets is the new black. 🖤💰

Under Pham’s watch, the CFTC seems to be embracing the crypto world with open arms, crafting clear guidelines like a couturier stitching a bespoke suit. This, of course, is in stark contrast to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which still seems to be stuck in the knitting circle. 🧶

Earlier this year, the CFTC unveiled the Crypto CEO Forum, a gathering of luminaries from Coinbase, Circle, and Ripple. Pham vowed to “deliver on the Trump Administration’s promise of ensuring that America leads the way on economic opportunity.” Nothing like a bit of patriotic fervor to spice things up, eh? 🇺🇸🔥

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2025-12-11 07:12