Former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo goes full-time as a tech and crypto advisor

Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Chris Giancarlo is retiring from law to go full-time as a corporate crypto and tech advisor. The former regulator, who earned the nickname “Crypto Dad” while in office, most recently served as senior counsel at white-shoe law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

“From here on, I’ll devote my time to advising founders & builders of #FinTech & #DigitalAssets and their CEOs and boards, research & writing on public policy issues, and continuing work with non-profit programs such as @Digital_Dollar_ Project, the Mike Gill Memorial Society and other philanthropy,” Giancarlo said in a message on X.

Giancarlo, who served as the CFTC lead from 2017 to 2019, was known for his largely proactive and positive approach to crypto regulation at a time when federal authorities were largely ambivalent or skeptical about the burgeoning sector.

As CFTC Chair, Giancarlo oversaw the launch of the world’s first federally regulated Bitcoin futures markets, allowing self-certification of BTC derivatives by CME Group and Cboe Futures Exchange. He also established LabCFTC, the agency’s innovation unit.

Since serving in the CFTC, which he joined as a commissioner in 2014 with an appointment by then-President Barack Obama, Giancarlo has advocated for the establishment of a “Digital Dollar,” a tokenized, digital form of the greenback issued directly by the Federal Reserve. Giancarlo is also executive chairman of the Digital Dollar Project, a non-profit he co-founded with former CFTC colleague Daniel Gorfine.

He has also joined several crypto firms as an advisor, like Sygnum Bank, and as a board member for stablecoin issuer Paxos and independent director of Nomura. He is also a longtime advisor to the Chamber of Digital Commerce, a trade group focused on U.S. blockchain and crypto policy.

Giancarlo has also been an outspoken advocate for prediction markets, having helped co-author a recent friend-of-the-court brief on supporting Crypto.com in its legal battle with Nevada gaming regulators. Polymarket named Giancarlo as an advisor in 2022.

The Trump administration reportedly eyed Giancarlo as a candidate to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission during the president’s second term. Giancarlo told The Block at the time that while he was eager to assist during the transition period last year, he would be uninterested in taking the job as a full-time regulator.

According to his post, Giancarlo said his latest book, “The New Adventures of CryptoDad: The Quest for Financial Freedom in the 21st Century,” is an “eye-witness chronicle of the #crypto industry’s evolution through recent political shifts and technological breakthroughs.” He published his first book, “CryptoDad: The Fight for the Future of Money,” in 2021.