Acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham announced on Dec. 8 a US digital assets pilot program that lets certain cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether and USDC, be used as tokenized collateral in derivatives markets, according to her official statement and post on X.

I’m launching a digital assets pilot program for BTC, ETH and USDC that will protect Americans under U.S. rules when you use @CFTC brokers to keep your crypto safe. Our new guidance will enable tokenized markets, and we’re cutting red tape that is outdated. Onwards!…

— Caroline D. Pham (@CarolineDPham) December 8, 2025

Under the pilot, Futures Commission Merchants may accept BTC, ETH and USDC as customer margin collateral for an initial three month period while the CFTC monitors activity, applying technology neutral rules that also cover tokenized real world assets like US Treasuries and money market funds. The Commission withdrew Advisory 20-34 as outdated in light of new legislation such as the GENIUS Act, framing the move as a milestone for bringing digital assets into regulated markets with appropriate guardrails.

Pham stressed that the program is designed to protect Americans using registered CFTC brokers and to offer a safer alternative to offshore venues, while industry leaders from firms including Circle, Crypto.com and Ripple welcomed the added regulatory clarity, faster settlement and 24/7 trading it could support. Market participants will now be watching how quickly FCMs adopt tokenized collateral, whether additional assets join BTC, ETH and USDC in the framework, and how the pilot shapes future CFTC guidance on tokenized markets.

Source: Caroline D. Pham (X post).

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Filed under: News - @ December 9, 2025 3:29 pm