U.S. CFTC's Pham Moves for Do-Over on 'Actual Delivery' Guidance on Crypto
TL;DR
CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline Pham has withdrawn the 2020 guidance on 'actual delivery' for crypto commodities, aligning with Trump's crypto-friendly policies to foster innovation. The move aims to reevaluate outdated rules in light of market developments over the past five years.
Key Takeaways
- •The CFTC has scrapped its 2020 guidance defining 'actual delivery' in crypto commodity transactions.
- •Acting Chairman Pham cited this as part of Trump's efforts to create more crypto-friendly regulations and reduce barriers to innovation.
- •The withdrawal allows the CFTC to reassess the guidance based on recent developments in the crypto spot market.
- •Pham has been actively advancing crypto policy changes, even as a permanent replacement nominee is pending confirmation.

What to know:
- One of the leading U.S. regulators for crypto activity, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has scrapped its earlier definition for how assets change hands in a crypto commodities transaction.
- Acting Chairman Caroline Pham said the earlier guidance on "actual delivery" was withdrawn as part of President Donald Trump's efforts to create friendly crypto policies.
- One of the leading U.S. regulators for crypto activity, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has scrapped its earlier definition for how assets change hands in a crypto commodities transaction.
- Acting Chairman Caroline Pham said the earlier guidance on "actual delivery" was withdrawn as part of President Donald Trump's efforts to create friendly crypto policies.
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chairman Caroline Pham has moved again to advance President Donald Trump's crypto agenda by eliminating old guidance on "actual delivery" of crypto commodities that she suggested might get in the way of the next steps.
“Eliminating outdated and overly complex guidance that penalizes the crypto industry and stifles innovation is exactly what the administration has set out to do this year,” said Pham in a Thursday statement.
The guidance, established in 2020 during Trump's first term, had sought to define "actual delivery" of assets during a crypto commodity transaction — a key concept under the Commodity Exchange Act. Law firm Steptoe had sought formal guidance from the CFTC defining the term as it applied to digital assets as far back as 2016. But the President's Working Group report on the administration's digital assets agenda earlier this year recommended that the CFTC should "consider expanding upon prior guidance on 'actual delivery' of virtual assets."
The CFTC needed to cut the original document "in order to reevaluate such guidance in light of further developments during the past 5 years in the means and methods deployed in the spot market for the purchase and sale of virtual currencies," it noted in the withdrawal notice.
Pham has driven a rapid series of crypto policy moves at the agency in the past couple of weeks, even as Trump's nominee to permanently replace her, Mike Selig, is heading toward a potential confirmation as soon as next week.
Read More: The CFTC Just Defined What 'Actual Delivery' of Crypto Should Look Like
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