Crypto payments company MoonPay has appointed Caroline Pham, the acting Chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as its Chief Legal Officer and Chief Administrative Officer, according to a press release.
MoonPay Hires CFTC’s Caroline Pham as Chief Legal Officer
18 December 2025 - 22:26 CET
By Sandmark staff
Pham has served as acting Chair of the CFTC since January 2025, having previously been a commissioner since 2022. She plans to join the company once her term as regulator concludes, marking one of the most prominent moves to date of a senior financial regulator into the c-suite of the digital asset industry.
Her decision to join MoonPay comes as the Trump administration embraces digital assets, prompting some officials to seek lucrative industry jobs. Bo Hines, a former Trump administration official who served as Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisers on Digital Assets later joined stablecoin issuer Tether in August as CEO of its US branch.
CFTC vs. SEC
In the US, crypto regulation is split between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the CFTC. Digital assets fall into existing securities and commodities laws rather than a single framework.
The SEC oversees tokens it views as securities and focuses on investor protection, while the CFTC regulates crypto derivatives and has regarded Bitcoin and Ether within a commodities framework. The overlap reflects unresolved legal ambiguity over how digital assets should be classified, which has become a major component of the policy work the industry has moved to address.
Pham's legacy
Pham emerged as a leading voice on market structure reform and digital asset oversight. She has played a central role advocating for a more formal regulatory framework for crypto derivatives and related products, including the launch earlier this month of a CFTC-led Digital Asset Markets Pilot Program.
Her agenda aligned closely with the Trump administration’s stated goal of positioning the US as a global hub for crypto and financial innovation, while keeping activity within the perimeter of existing regulatory institutions.
What to expect in her new role
At MoonPay, Pham will oversee global legal and administrative operations and lead the company’s policy and regulatory strategy, particularly its engagement with lawmakers. MoonPay has steadily expanded its regulatory footprint in recent years, securing a New York BitLicense and a New York Limited Purpose Trust Charter in the second half of 2025, in addition to money transmitter licences across the US and authorization under the European Union’s MiCA framework.
Founded in 2019, MoonPay provides fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat infrastructure for consumers and businesses, supporting payments, trading, and stablecoin services across more than 180 countries.
