Crypto CEOs Join U.S. CFTC's Innovation Council to Steer Market Developments

Policy Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email Crypto CEOs Join U.S. CFTC's Innovation Council to Steer Market Developments The chief executives of firms such as Gemini and Kraken will pitch in on U.S. policy efforts through the council's future, public discussions. By Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Nikhilesh De Updated Dec 10, 2025, 10:24 p.m. Published Dec 10, 2025, 10:22 p.m. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chairman Caroline Pham announced crypto CEOs are joining the agency's innovation council. (Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk) What to know : In her final days atop the agency, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chairman Caroline Pham announced her CEO Innovation Council, replete with crypto executives. The names include the chief executives from Gemini, Kraken, Polymarket, Bitnomial and several others. The CFTC is expected to get its permanent chairman very soon when the Senate votes on the confirmation of Mike Selig, President Donald Trump's nominee. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has announced the initial names as it stands up its CEO Innovation Council meant to delve into derivatives market-structure developments, especially around tokenization, crypto and blockchain technology. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the State of Crypto Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . Prominent crypto-sector CEO names such as Gemini's Tyler Winklevoss, Kraken's Arjun Sethi and Polymarket's Shayne Coplan will join chief executives from such mainstay firms as CME Group, Nasdaq, Intercontinental Exchange and Cboe Group. "I am grateful to the CEOs who have agreed to share their vision and experience with the commission as we hit the ground running to prepare for the future and beyond," said CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline Pham, in a statement. She said the group — whose names were gathered rapidly in a two-week period — will be "specifically focused on market structure developments in derivatives markets such as tokenization, crypto assets, 24/7 trading, perpetual contracts, prediction markets and blockchain market infrastructure." The complete list for the incoming council is: Shayne Coplan, CEO, Polymarket Craig Donohue, CEO, Cboe Global Markets Terry Duffy, Chairman and CEO, CME Group Tom Farley, CEO, Bullish Adena Friedman, Chair and CEO, Nasdaq Luke Hoersten, CEO, Bitnomial Tarek Mansour, CEO, Kalshi Kris Marszalek, CEO, Crypto.com David Schwimmer, CEO, LSEG Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO, Kraken Jeff Sprecher, CEO, Intercontinental Exchange Tyler Winklevoss, CEO, Gemini Bullish is CoinDesk's parent company. The CEO group's formation is the latest in a rapid-fire series of crypto developments from the CFTC and Pham. The interim chair is moving quickly to finish up the final priorities of her own crypto agenda. This week, the agency announced a pilot program for using crypto collateral in the derivatives market, which followed days after Pham's announcement that Bitnomial (whose CEO is on the council) had kicked off leverage spot crypto trading she'd personally encouraged as acceptable under U.S. derivatives laws. These are expected to be the final days of her leadership tenure at the agency, with President Donald Trump's chairman nominee, Mike Selig, expected to be confirmed as soon as Wednesday by the Senate. Once he's sworn in, he'll arrive amid the deluge of new crypto policy work orchestrated by Pham. Though her interim chairmanship has been less than a year, she made crypto policy a central task of the derivatives watchdog, responding to President Donald Trump's directives to push friendly digital asset policy to make the U.S. a leading global hub. Similarly, Trump's Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, Paul Atkins, has also spent much of his bandwidth on his agency's program known as Project Crypto. U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Gemini Polymarket Kraken Caroline D. Pham Regulation More For You Protocol Research: GoPlus Security By CoinDesk Research Nov 14, 2025 Commissioned by GoPlus What to know : As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M. GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month. Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B. View Full Report More For You U.S. Banking Regulator Warns Wall Street on 'Debanking,' Claims Practices 'Unlawful' By Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Nikhilesh De 1 hour ago The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency probed debanking of certain industries, including digital assets, and said it'll pursue any repeat of such activity. What to know : The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates U.S. national banks, released a report on so-called "debanking" of industries including crypto, saying that Wall Street banks have been guilty and may be subject to punishment. The report comes as a response to President Donald Trump's executive order in August directing regulators to probe debanking. It's unclear what legal authority the OCC may cite to pursue cases against bankers who violate the agency's standards. Read full story Latest Crypto News Stripe Acqui-Hires Crypto Payments Startup Valora, Venturing Further Into Stablecoins 25 minutes ago U.S. Banking Regulator Warns Wall Street on 'Debanking,' Claims Practices 'Unlawful' 1 hour ago Bitcoin Swings Wildly as Fed's Powell Straddles Labor Market and Inflation Issues 1 hour ago A16z Crypto to Open Seoul Office, Hire Sungmo Park to Lead Asia Efforts 2 hours ago Consumer Groups Join Unions Trying to Derail U.S. Crypto Market Structure Bill 2 hours ago Paxful Pleads Guilty to Aiding Crime, Ignoring AML Laws 3 hours ago Top Stories Bitcoin Swings Wildly as Fed's Powell Straddles Labor Market and Inflation Issues 1 hour ago Federal Reserve Cuts Rates 25 Basis Points, With Two Members Voting for Steady Policy 3 hours ago U.S. Banking Regulator Warns Wall Street on 'Debanking,' Claims Practices 'Unlawful' 1 hour ago Consumer Groups Join Unions Trying to Derail U.S. Crypto Market Structure Bill 2 hours ago Paxful Pleads Guilty to Aiding Crime, Ignoring AML Laws 3 hours ago SpaceX’s $300M Bitcoin Stack Puts Crypto Inside the World’s Biggest Planned IPO 7 hours ago