Former CFTC chair Giancarlo joins BlockFi's board

J. Christopher Giancarlo, the former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman who left office in 2019, is joining the board of directors of BlockFi.

BlockFi is a crypto neobank that allows users to earn interest on deposited crypto funds, which BlockFi lends out to institutions to use for arbitrage. Effectively, the firm provides high-interest savings accounts.

In Tuesday's announcement, BlockFi said in a statement: "Giancarlo will provide valuable guidance to the company’s leadership on strategic matters, namely blockchain innovation, regulatory developments and growth initiatives."

“As the adoption of digital assets accelerates, it is critical for the financial industry to consider how to adapt and integrate these innovations in a way that best serves investors and the broader economy,” Giancarlo said in a statement.

During his tenure at the CFTC, Giancarlo earned the nickname "CryptoDad" for his support for the growing industry. These activities included the launch of the commission's fintech unit, LabCFTC. Since leaving, that reputation has only grown based on his work with the Digital Dollar Project, through which he has advanced the concept of a digitized version of the U.S. dollar. 

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Kollen Post is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things policy and geopolitics from Washington, DC. That includes legislation and regulation, securities law and money laundering, cyber warfare, corruption, CBDCs, and blockchain’s role in the developing world. He speaks Russian and Arabic. You can send him leads at [email protected].