Key Highlights
- U.S. CFTC is in advanced talks with major registered exchanges to launch leveraged spot trading for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether as early as December 2025.
- This plan uses existing authority in the Commodity Exchange Act to bring a major portion of crypto trading under federal oversight of the CFTC
- The initiative is another major regulatory development under the Trump administration to entice crypto innovation in the U.S.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), under the Acting Chair Caroline D. Pham, has revealed that it is in advanced discussions with major financial exchanges to introduce leveraged spot trading for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
— Caroline D. Pham (@CarolineDPham) November 9, 2025
According to the official post by Caroline D. Pham, this could launch as early as December 2025, which is expected to bring a huge part of crypto trading under federal oversight for the first time.
This announcement comes after a joint statement from September 2025 issued by the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That statement clarified that registered exchanges can list spot commodity products without needing new laws from Congress.
This is based on long-standing rules within the Commodity Exchange Act. This law requires that any retail transaction that involves commodities traded with leverage or borrowed funds must happen on regulated platforms.
The CFTC is now planning to apply this rule directly to the spot crypto market, where assets are bought and sold for immediate delivery. Acting Chair Pham stated that the agency is committed to moving forward at full speed to enable federally regulated digital asset trading.
CFTC Plans to Bring Clear Regulatory Guidelines
While the rules for leveraged trading already existed, their implementation was mainly focused on complex financial derivatives, not simple spot trades.
This gap sent billions of dollars in trading volume from U.S. investors toward unregulated offshore exchanges. These foreign platforms often lack the strong investor protections and market monitoring of American exchanges. This leaves users exposed to higher risks of fraud.
The new plan directly addresses this issue by bringing this activity back onshore. The major platforms involved are some of the biggest names in finance. They include traditional giants like CME Group, Cboe Futures Exchange, and ICE Futures U.S., which already offer Bitcoin and Ether futures. They are joined by crypto-native exchanges such as Coinbase Derivatives.
How Leveraged Spot Trading Will Work
These regulated exchanges, known as Designated Contract Markets (DCMs), will be allowed to facilitate spot trading with built-in leverage.
It means that traders will be able to control larger positions in assets like Bitcoin with less of their own capital, which amplifies both gains and losses.
For example, a user might be able to trade with up to 10 times their initial investment. All such trades will come with mandatory margin requirements.
Acting Chair Pham has mentioned that this effort is not about encouraging speculation. Instead, she calls it an important point to bring compliant and innovative financial products within the U.S. regulatory perimeter.
U.S. Regulatory Agencies Want Clear Regulatory Guidelines for the Cryptocurrency Sector
This statement is a central part of Pham’s “Crypto Sprint” initiative, which was launched in August 2025 to collect industry feedback on key issues like spot listings and the use of tokenized collateral, including stablecoins.
The first products to be tested could include perpetual contracts. It is a type of derivative with no expiration date that is very popular in decentralized finance (DeFi).
Some critics, including former CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam, argue that the CFTC needs clear new authority from Congress to watch over spot markets. Pham responded that the existing Commodity Exchange Act provides enough authority for regulating leveraged trading activity.
Some sources suggest that platforms like CME and Coinbase could debut their leveraged spot products by mid-December 2025.
Major U.S. Banks Rush into Crypto Spot Services
JPMorgan Chase plans to offer spot trading of Bitcoin and Ether for its institutional clients by early 2026. The bank intends to use its own private blockchain, Onyx, to settle these trades.
Furthermore, Chase cardholders will soon be able to fund their Coinbase wallets directly, and the bank is developing crypto-backed loan products where Bitcoin and Ether can be used as collateral. Analysts see this as a multi-billion-dollar opportunity.
Goldman Sachs has relaunched its crypto trading desk and is exploring spot trading alongside its derivatives offerings. In July 2025, it partnered with BNY Mellon on a project involving tokenized money market funds.
Morgan Stanley is also planning to offer its E*Trade clients access to spot crypto trading by 2026. Other major institutions, including Citigroup, HSBC, and UBS, are also planning to introduce various crypto custody, tokenization, and trading services.
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