Former CFTC Chair joins Paxos board of directors

Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair J. Christopher Giancarlo will join the board of directors at Paxos.

According to a press release from Paxos, the former head of the CFTC will join the board of directors of the stablecoin issuing company. The firm hired Giancarlo to work among other directors, including former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley.

“Chris brings unparalleled expertise and understanding of complex market dynamics to Paxos […] His insights will support us as we expand our position as a leader in regulated digital asset market structure and stablecoin innovation.”

Charles Cascarilla, CEO and Co-Founder of Paxos

Giancarlo was Chairman of the CFTC from March 2017 to April 2019, overseeing the launch of the first Bitcoin futures products. He later published a book on Bitcoin derivatives called “CryptoDad: The Fight for the Future of Money.”

In January 2022, Giancarlo joined the New York fintech company Digital Asset, where he consulted on asset tokenization, distributed ledger technology, and the potential impact of regulatory changes on the cryptocurrency space.

Before this, Giancarlo joined the board of directors of the cryptocurrency lending service BlockFi and was also a strategic advisor at the investment firm CoinFund.

Giancarlo’s naming to the company’s board coincides with recent pressure from U.S. regulatory authorities. In February 2023, the U.S. SEC informed Paxos that it planned to sue it for violating investor protection laws. According to the SEC, the Binance USD stablecoin (BUSD) is an unregistered security. As a result, the company had to suspend production of BUSD.