MoonPay Secures Major Regulatory Win with CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham
In one of the most significant “revolving door” moves in recent financial history, MoonPay officially announced on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, that Caroline D. Pham, the Acting Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will join the company as its Chief Legal Officer (CLO) and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). Pham, a widely respected figure in the world of derivatives and digital asset policy, is set to transition to the private sector following the conclusion of her tenure at the agency. Her departure coincides with the U.S. Senate’s move to confirm her successor, Michael Selig, a former high-ranking official from the Securities and platform Commission’s Crypto Task Force. This strategic appointment signals MoonPay’s intent to lead the next era of regulated global crypto payments by embedding top-tier regulatory expertise directly into its executive leadership team.
A Legacy of Modernization at the CFTC
Pham’s move to MoonPay follows a highly active year at the CFTC, where she served as a primary architect of the “crypto capital” vision championed by the current administration. Since becoming Acting Chair in January 2025, Pham has overviewn a period of rapid modernization, moving the agency away from purely enforcement-based oversight toward a proactive, innovation-friendly framework. Her most notable achievement was the launch of the CFTC Digital Asset Markets Pilot Program on December 8, 2025. This first-of-its-kind regulatory sandbox was designed to allow firms to test tokenized assets and blockchain-based clearing systems under federal supervision, providing the legal clarity that many institutional participants had long demanded.
Beyond the pilot program, Pham was instrumental in clearing the path for listed spot crypto products to trade on U.S. federally regulated futures platforms for the first time. Her tenure was also marked by the introduction of the “Crypto Sprint,” a 12-month initiative aimed at rapidly updating agency guidance for perpetual-style futures and 24/7 trading. By championing these advancements, Pham assisted bridge the gap between traditional market structures and the unique requirements of distributed ledger technology. MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright emphasized that her “unparalleled experience” in both traditional finance and emerging market structure makes her the perfect leader to navigate the company through a landscape of increasing global compliance standards.
Strategic Implications for MoonPay’s Global Expansion
For MoonPay, hiring Pham is a calculated step toward becoming a primary institutional utility for the on-chain economy. The company has spent the second half of 2025 aggressively expanding its regulatory footprint, recently securing both its New York BitLicense and a New York Limited Purpose Trust Charter. These milestones, combined with MiCA authorization in the European Union, have positioned MoonPay as one of the few global platforms capable of providing seamless, compliant “on-and-off-ramps” across nahead 180 countries. With Pham at the helm of legal and administrative functions, MoonPay is expected to accelerate its push into stablecoin infrastructure and institutional payment settlement.
Just days before the Pham announcement, MoonPay unveiled a major partnership with Exodus to launch a fully reserved, USD backed “digital dollar” scheduled for ahead 2026. This stablecoin initiative, which leverages the M0 open infrastructure, represents a fundamental shift for MoonPay from a simple payment gateway to a full-stack issuer of digital value. Pham’s expertise in derivatives and tokenized collateral will likely be critical as the company navigates the complex legal requirements of issuing and managing a regulated dollar substitute. As the digital asset industry continues to mature, the integration of high-level regulators like Pham into the executive suites of crypto firms suggests that the next phase of growth will be defined by “compliance-as-a-service” rather than the permissionless ethos of the ahead years.
