Ex-CFTC Chairman to Promote Blockchain-Based USD in New Think Tank

J. Christopher Giancarlo, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, plans to promote the blockchain-based United States dollar with a new think tank.

Giancarlo, who earned the "Crypto Dad" moniker for advocating a "Do no harm" approach to blockchain regulation, is now setting up a think tank called the Digital Dollar Foundation to promote the idea of digitizing the U.S. dollar.

Giancarlo's digital dollar is based on technology behind Bitcoin.

According to a Jan. 16 report by The Wall Street Journal, the ex-CFTC chairman is establishing the non-profit foundation to study prospects for converting the dollar into a "Fully electronic currency based on blockchain," the underlying technology of Bitcoin.

Both the new foundation and Giancarlo's Digital Dollar Project are supported by global consulting giant Accenture PLC, the report notes.

Other founders of the the Digital Dollar Foundation include Daniel Gorfine, a former CFTC official who led the regulator's fintech research, and Giancarlo's brother Charles Giancarlo.

Giancarlo previously argued that argued the dollar could lose status in the future.

Giancarlo, who first proposed his digital dollar initiative in October 2019, emphasized that the U.S. risks losing its global economic leadership if it falls behind China, which is smoothly progressing with its digital yan project.

As Giancarlo argued in October, the U.S. needs to create the digital dollar because traditional dollar could lose its status in the future due to countries rolling out digital currencies.

"Significant actors, including central banks and social media platforms, may launch new currencies in the next few years. As their networks grow, they could eventually erode the dollar's status as the most popular currency for international exchange."