CFTC Acting Chair Pham to join MoonPay as chief legal and administrative officer

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chair Caroline Pham is moving on to a new role at crypto finance company MoonPay once her stint at the CFTC comes to an end, the firm said on Wednesday. Pham has previously said she plans to leave once a new CFTC chair is confirmed.

"Her leadership at @cftc has shaped policies that expand financial freedom and crypto innovation," said MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright in a post on X. "Now we’ll turn that progress into real outcomes for users and partners globally." 

Pham will join MoonPay as chief legal officer and chief administrative officer after leaving her role as acting chair of the CFTC, MoonPay said in a post on X. She first said she would be joining MoonPay in August, according to multiple news reports. 

President Donald Trump's latest pick to run the agency, Mike Selig, is slated to have a confirmation hearing this week. An exact start date for Pham isn't yet confirmed since Selig hasn't been confirmed as CFTC chair, a MoonPay spokesperson said in an email. 

Over the past year, Pham has led the CFTC in launching several crypto initiatives as part of its "Crypto Sprint" to focus on clarifying rules for the industry. Last week, Pham said the agency would be withdrawing guidance focused on the "actual delivery" of digital assets, calling it "outdated and overly complex." And earlier this month, Pham announced that Bitnomial had become the first exchange to list regulator-approved spot crypto products. 

Pham also recently stood up a CEO Innovation Council to strengthen the agency's crypto efforts. Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, and Gemini CEO Tyler Winklevoss were named in the first round of participants in that council.