Key Takeaways
- Bitnomial has secured permission from the CFTC to offer margin lending products.
- Acting CFTC Chair Caroline Pham has ended the regulator’s de facto ban on spot crypto leverage.
- Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Kraken have the right licenses in place to follow Bitnomial.
Bitnomial has secured the first approval to list leveraged crypto products from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
At the dawn of a new era of American crypto regulation, attention now turns to larger exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken, which have spent years calling for the CFTC to enable regulated crypto leverage.
A Watershed Moment for U.S. Crypto
Announcing the CFTC’s “historic milestone” on Thursday, Acting Chair Caroline Pham criticized past policies that outlawed cryptocurrency margin trading in the U.S.
Previously, “the CFTC chose regulation by enforcement rather than making clear rules of the road,” she said.
That approach, Pham argued, resulted in “huge fines that targeted the crypto industry but did not protect the retail public by giving them a safe place to trade.”
With the arrival of a more crypto-friendly administration at the start of 2025, exchanges started to roll out new leveraged trading products in the U.S.
But until now, they have relied on futures contracts rather than spot margin.
Other Exchanges Poised To Follow Bitnomial
Fearing penalties, U.S. exchanges scaled back margin features after the CFTC issued restrictive guidance on crypto in March 2020.
Under Chair Rostin Behnam, penalties issued against Kraken and Bitfinex cemented the fate of leveraged spot trading.
During this period, exchange operators frequently called on the CFTC to develop a clear framework for crypto leverage.
After it suspended margin trading in the U.S., Kraken called for “common-sense regulations that protect market participants and do not restrict their freedom to purchase, sell, hold, and use cryptocurrency.”
Expressing a similar view, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal argued that “clear, common-sense regulations for margin lending products are needed to protect and provide peace of mind to U.S. customers.”
Other Exchanges Poised To Follow Bitnomial
In 2025, crypto exchanges will have openly floated the prospect of relaunching spot leverage features.
For instance, when Kraken closed a deal to acquire Small Exchange in October, CEO Arjun Sethi looked forward to combining “spot, futures, and margin products inside a single regulated liquidity system.”
With Bitnomial firing the starting gun in the race for CFTC approval, exchanges that are already registered as designated contract markets (DCM) are at an advantage.
Platforms with a headstart include Coinbase, Crypto.com, and, since it acquired Small Exchange, Kraken.
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James Morales is CCN’s blockchain and crypto policy reporter. He has been working in the news media since 2020, writing about topics such as payments, banking and financial technology. These days, he likes to explore the latest blockchain innovations and the evolving landscape of global crypto regulation.
With an educational background in social anthropology and media studies, James uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.
