- Caroline Pham, acting chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will leave to join crypto firm MoonPay as chief legal and administrative officer.
- Mike Selig is set to become the permanent CFTC chair, coming from his role as chief counsel for the SEC’s Crypto Task Force.
- Pham led several crypto-related initiatives at the CFTC and achieved nearly $50 million in annual cost savings through improved governance.
- Her move to MoonPay followed a connection made with the company’s president, Keith Grossman, in 2023.
- MoonPay offers software for buying and selling digital assets with traditional payments and serves over 30 million users globally.
Caroline Pham, currently the acting chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will leave the agency to become chief legal and administrative officer at cryptocurrency company MoonPay. This transition will occur following the expected confirmation of Mike Selig as the permanent CFTC chair.
Selig previously worked at the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher and now serves as chief counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Crypto Task Force, as well as senior advisor to the SEC chairman. Pham became a CFTC commissioner in April 2022 and was named acting chair in January 2025. She announced plans to leave the agency once her successor was confirmed.
During her time leading the CFTC, Pham advanced key initiatives related to cryptocurrency regulation. These included allowing spot crypto trading on futures exchanges, launching a pilot program for digital assets like Bitcoin and ether, and forming the CEO Innovation Council for market structure reform discussions. She also implemented operational changes that delivered about $50 million in annualized cost savings through better governance and accountability.
Pham said her priorities as acting chair followed a March agenda focused on executing presidential executive orders. These included promoting clearer regulations, ensuring fairness in enforcement, and improving agency efficiency. Her decision to join MoonPay reflects an earlier career pattern—she previously left the CFTC in 2014 for Citigroup to work on regulatory compliance and transformation projects.
Pham’s move to MoonPay began after meeting the company’s president, Keith Grossman, at a Christie’s Art + Tech dinner in 2023. Their conversation led to a friendship and later career discussions. Grossman stated, “MoonPay has really matured, and Caroline is the exact type of leader with the exact type of big bank and regulatory experience that’s needed for us to be able to move to the next level.”
Founded in 2019 and based in New York, MoonPay provides software enabling users to buy and sell digital assets using traditional payment methods like credit cards, bank transfers, and Venmo. The company also supplies this technology to businesses such as Shopify and Polymarket, allowing them to accept cryptocurrency payments. MoonPay has processed over $8 billion in transactions and serves more than 30 million users in more than 180 countries. The company has raised $555 million from investors including Tiger Global, Coatue, and Paradigm, with a valuation of $3.4 billion as of 2021.
Pham expressed confidence in her successor, saying Selig offers “the best of both worlds”—combining legal expertise and crypto regulatory experience. She added, “We’re going to have to write a lot of rules. It’s important to have someone who’s in the weeds and hands-on to make sure we get them right.” The CFTC is expected to play a major role in U.S. crypto oversight once Congress passes legislation to clarify its authority.
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