CTFC announced that US citizens could soon be allowed to trade crypto on offshore exchanges. A few prominent examples include Binance, Bybit, and OKX.
After Kristin Johnson’s resignation this week, Pham is the CFTC’s only remaining Commissioner. This may be just a hint of the sort of bold actions she can take with unilateral control.
CFTC Liberalizes Crypto Exchange Policy
The CFTC is preparing to make a crucial step in its campaign to improve crypto’s regulatory status. According to a press release that circulated today, the CFTC is planning to allow US citizens to freely trade crypto on offshore exchanges:
“Today’s FBOT advisory provides the regulatory clarity needed to legally onshore trading activity that was driven out of the United States due to the unprecedented regulation by enforcement approach of the past several years. American companies that were forced to set up shop in foreign jurisdictions to facilitate crypto asset trading now have a path back to US markets,” claimed Acting Chair Caroline Pham.
This announcement marks the first tangible output of the CFTC’s broader “crypto sprint”—an expedited regulatory push aligned with recommendations from the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.
A few specific offshore exchanges included in the CFTC’s decision are Binance, Bybit, and OKX. This sort of radical decision could truly open new floodgates for global crypto liquidity.
In addition to putting another feather in Trump’s cap as the “Crypto President,” this action will institute sweeping pro-crypto changes that are hard to reverse.
Still, Pham is taking a very unorthodox step with this approach. The CFTC has been suffering from understaffing, and Pham is the only remaining Commissioner after Kristin Johnson announced her departure this week.
Furthermore, rumors claim that Pham herself plans to depart the Commission after a full-time Chair gets confirmed.
In other words, Caroline Pham is acting alone at the CFTC right now, and this has enabled her to enact sweeping reforms to crypto exchange policies. More bold, unilateral pro-crypto actions could follow in the future.
Until now, US regulators treated offshore exchanges that allowed Americans to trade as if they were operating illegally inside the country. The CFTC, SEC, DOJ, and FinCEN consistently pursued cases where platforms either knowingly or negligently enabled US customers to bypass restrictions.
Most major crypto lawsuits under the Biden administration revolved primarily around facilitating offshore crypto trading for US residents.
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