Digital Asset, the software and services provider, has appointed J. Christopher Giancarlo, former chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to its board of directors.
As a member of the board, Giancarlo will provide counsel to Digital Asset’s leadership on asset tokenisation, distributed ledger technology (DLT) advancement and the regulatory and monetary developments impacting this space.
Giancarlo served as the 13th chairman of the CFTC from 2014 to 2019 under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Under his leadership, the CFTC published primers on virtual currencies and smart contracts, oversaw the launch of the first bitcoin futures contracts, and created LabCFTC as the agency’s stakeholder in the digital evolution of derivatives trading markets.
As chairman of the CFTC, Giancarlo also served as a member of the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Committee, the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, and the executive board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions.
Giancarlo currently serves as senior counsel to the international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and is a member of several boards, including Nomura Holdings, Common Securitization Solutions, LLC and The American Financial Exchange, among others.
In 2021, Digital Asset raised US$120 million in a Series D financing round led by private equity firms, 7RIDGE and Eldridge. Digital Asset also strengthened its position in capital markets, announcing new partnerships with Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Börse, The Hong Kong Stock Exchange, The Australian Securities Exchange and Nasdaq, among others.
Yuval Rooz, co-founder and CEO of Digital Asset, says: “Chris is highly respected across traditional and digital financial markets and is a great addition to our board. As a renowned blockchain technology advocate and key contributor to the global discourse on digital assets, his insights will be critical to our continued growth and success, particularly as we help our customers navigate the complexities of building seamlessly interconnected businesses.”
