SAM BOURGI

Former CFTC chair Giancarlo joins CoinFund as an adviser

Giancarlo has been a vocal supporter of cryptocurrencies and CBDCs and has called for a “do no harm approach” to blockchain regulation.

NEWS

Blockchain investment firm CoinFund has appointed former United States commodities regulator J. Christopher Giancarlo as a strategic adviser — a move that should help the Brooklyn-based company navigate the complex, ever-changing regulatory requirements in its home country. 

Often referred to as “Crypto Dad” by the blockchain community for his support of digital assets, Giancarlo was nominated as commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in 2014. In January 2017, he became the agency’s acting chair before assuming the role full-time in August of the same year. He held the position until July 2019.

CoinFund president Christopher Perkins described Giancarlo as a “driving force” of innovation at the CFTC, especially for advocating “thoughtful crypto policy in the United States.” Jake Bruckman, CoinFund’s founder, said the former government official will provide expertise at a time when domestic crypto regulations are changing in real time.

Since leaving the CFTC, Giancarlo has become a more vocal supporter of digital assets and has even served on the board of directors at crypto lending firm BlockFi. In June 2021, Giancarlo told Cointelegraph that the United States risks becoming a “backwater” without a central bank digital currency and that China was clearly the leader in CBDC development. As early as January 2020, Giancarlo was on record saying that the United States needs a digital dollar to compete with China’s CBDC project.

Related: US lawmaker proposes bill aimed at limiting Fed's ability to issue CBDC

CoinFund has invested in several crypto-focused startups over the past year. As Cointelegraph reported, the blockchain investment firm closed an $83 million funding round in July 2021 to continue supporting emerging projects in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. The company was behind the recent $50 million Series A funding round for digital asset curator Metaversal and also contributed to NFT marketplace Rarible’s $14 million funding round in June 2021.