Former CFTC Chair sets up a nonprofit to promote digital dollar

Christopher Giancarlo, the former chairman of the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission (CFTC), has created a nonprofit to promote the idea of digitizing the U.S. dollar.

According to a press release shared with The Block on Thursday, the nonprofit, the Digital Dollar Foundation, will study converting the dollar into a blockchain-based digital currency.

IT giant Accenture is supporting “crypto dad” Giancarlo’s foundation. Accenture has been working with a number of central banks on digital currencies, including the Bank of Canada, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the European Central Bank, and Sweden’s Riksbank.

The nonprofit’s other founders are Daniel Gorfine, a former CFTC official, and Giancarlo’s brother Charles Giancarlo, a former Cisco Systems executive, and private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners.

The foundation will research the potential advantages of digitizing the dollar. It will explore design options and hold stakeholder meetings, roundtable discussions, and open forums, among other initiatives. 

“A digital dollar would help future-proof the greenback and allow individuals and global enterprises to make payments in dollars irrespective of space and time," said Giancarlo, adding:

"We are launching the Digital Dollar Project to catalyze a digital, tokenized U.S. currency that would coexist with other Federal Reserve liabilities and serve as a settlement medium to meet the demands of the new digital world and a cheaper, faster and more inclusive global financial system.”

Giancarlo indicated the project during an appearance at the Crypto Finance Conference St. Moritz on Wednesday. 

As is currently understood, the Federal Reserve has no involvement with the initiative. 

During a recent podcast appearance, Giancarlo contended that "the time has come to think about...digitizing the dollar." 

The foundation aims to create a "portable" digital dollar, which can be sent "as easily as a text," per Thursday's announcement.