Main highlights
- The US CFTC is in talks with major registered exchanges to begin leveraged spot trading of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether as early as December 2025.
- The plan would leverage existing powers under the Commodity Exchange Act to bring most virtual currency transactions under the CFTC’s federal oversight.
- This initiative is another major regulatory development under the Trump administration to attract cryptocurrency innovation in the United States.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), under Acting Chairperson Caroline D. Pham, has announced that it is in talks with major financial exchanges to introduce leveraged spot trading in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
truth
— Caroline D. Pham (@CarolineDPham) November 9, 2025
According to an official post by Caroline D. Pham, this could begin as early as December 2025 and is expected to bring a large portion of cryptocurrency transactions under federal government oversight for the first time.
This announcement follows the September 2025 joint statement issued by the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The statement clarified that registered exchanges can list spot commodity products without the need for new legislation by Congress.
This is based on long-standing rules of the Commodity Exchange Act. The law requires that retail transactions involving products traded using leverage or borrowed funds must be conducted on regulated platforms.
The CFTC currently plans to apply this rule directly to the spot cryptocurrency market, where assets are bought and sold for immediate delivery. Acting Chairman Pham said the agency is committed to moving full speed ahead to enable federally regulated digital asset transactions.
CFTC plans to introduce clear regulatory guidelines
Rules for leveraged trading already existed, but their implementation focused primarily on complex financial derivatives rather than simple spot trading.
This gap led to billions of dollars in trading volume leaking from U.S. investors to unregulated offshore exchanges. These foreign platforms often lack the strong investor protections and market oversight of American exchanges. This puts users at increased risk of fraud.
The new plan directly addresses this issue by bringing this activity back to land. The major platforms involved include some of the biggest names in the financial industry. These include traditional giants such as CME Group, Cboe Futures Exchange, and ICE Futures US, which already offer Bitcoin and Ether futures. These are joined by crypto-native exchanges such as Coinbase Derivatives.
How leveraged spot trading works
These regulated exchanges, known as designated contract markets (DCMs), allow the facilitation of spot trading that incorporates leverage.
This means that traders will be able to manage larger positions in assets like Bitcoin with less equity capital, amplifying both profits and losses.
For example, users may be able to trade up to 10 times their initial investment. All such trades are subject to mandatory margin requirements.
Acting Chairman Pham said the initiative was not intended to encourage speculation. Rather, she calls the key point to be the introduction of compliant, innovative financial products within U.S. regulatory boundaries.
US regulators seek clear regulatory guidelines for crypto space
This statement is based on Fam’s “crypto sprint” initiative was launched in August 2025 to gather industry feedback on key issues such as spot listings and the use of tokenized collateral, including stablecoins.
The first products to be tested may include perpetual contracts. This is a type of derivative with no expiration date that is very popular in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Some critics, including former CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnum, argue that the CFTC needs clear new authority from Congress to oversee the spot market. Mr. Pham responded that the current Commodity Exchange Act provides sufficient authority to regulate leveraged trading activities.
Some sources have suggested that platforms such as CME and Coinbase could debut leveraged spot products by mid-December 2025.
Major US banks enter crypto spot services
JPMorgan Chase & Co. plans to offer spot trading in Bitcoin and Ether for institutional clients by early 2026. The bank plans to use its own private blockchain, Onyx, to settle these transactions.
Additionally, Chase cardholders will soon be able to deposit funds directly into their Coinbase wallets, and the bank is developing a cryptocurrency-backed loan product that can use Bitcoin and Ether as collateral. Analysts see this as a multibillion-dollar opportunity.
Goldman Sachs has restarted its crypto trading desk and is considering spot trading alongside derivatives products. In July 2025, it partnered with BNY Mellon on a project that includes a tokenized money market fund.
Morgan Stanley also plans to offer E*Trade customers access to spot cryptocurrency trading by 2026. Other major institutions such as Citigroup, HSBC, and UBS are also planning to introduce various crypto custody, tokenization, and trading services.