Caroline Pham, one of the Republican commissioners at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will take over the agency on an interim basis, according to two people familiar with the decision, as the administration of President Donald Trump shifts U.S. policy toward a friendlier relationship with digital assets.
The CFTC stands to become a leading federal watchdog for crypto, and Pham takes over as acting chair at a point of major potential transition for the agency. Most of the early legislative efforts to establish a digital assets roadmap envision the CFTC taking over regulation of crypto spot markets for widely traded tokens such as bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum’s ether (ETH). Those earlier bills are expected to be the foundation of crypto work in the new Congress.
The five-member commission voted to elevate Pham, the people said. The agency generally defers on such a pick to the wishes of the incoming majority party leadership.
A CFTC spokesperson and a staffer for Pham declined to comment on the decision, which hasn’t yet been officially announced by the agency.
Pham will lead the CFTC until Trump can nominate and the Senate can confirm a permanent selection. It’s unclear whether she will also be a frontrunner for the full chairmanship.
In her time at the agency, she’s spent considerable time directing the Global Markets Advisory Committee that she’s led to examine potential approaches to overseeing digital assets.
Outgoing CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam previously announced he would step down from the commission on inauguration day, joining Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, who also said he would resign at noon E.T., when Trump was sworn in.