WASHINGTON, D.C.—Benjamin Schiffrin, Director of Securities Policy for Better Markets, issued the following statement in connection with the announcement that Caroline Pham, Acting Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), will leave the agency and join crypto company MoonPay upon the confirmation of a new chair:
“Acting CFTC Chair Pham is finally ending her brazen apparent conflicts of interest by resigning from the CFTC months after it was widely reported she had accepted an executive position at MoonPay, which she has confirmed today. Her conduct in continuing to act as the Acting Chair and the agency’s sole commissioner for months after reportedly accepting the MoonPay position when she took numerous actions—some highly questionable—that benefited the crypto industry, including a number of which that would appear to benefit her employer MoonPay—raises serious ethical questions.
“During those months, CFTC Acting Chair/future MoonPay executive Pham lauded the Presidential Working Group’s Recommendations to usher in a golden age of crypto in the United States, announced a crypto sprint to benefit the crypto industry, launched a spot crypto trading initiative, launched a tokenized collateral and stablecoins initiative, and traveled the world while giving speeches touting the crypto industry, among other actions. She has even issued CFTC press releases that quote crypto industry leaders as if they were part of the CFTC. That she has now formally admitted and disclosed what was reported for months—that she will now be an executive in the crypto industry herself—makes a number of these actions appear to be more for the benefit of the industry she planned to join that the American people she was sworn to serve. Indeed, given she repeatedly refused to provide the public with notice or opportunity for comment on her many actions, she affirmatively excluded the public both from the disclosure of her future crypto employment plans and input into her crypto-favorable actions.
“Acting Chair/future MoonPay executive Pham was hopelessly conflicted throughout this time. The American people deserve better from senior officials at financial regulatory agencies charged with protecting their interests, not those of a particular favored industry.”
###
Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies—including many in finance—to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.org.
