Ex-CFTC Chair Christopher Giancarlo Stumps for Digital Dollar

Former CFTC chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo laid out his case for state-issued digital currencies on CoinDesk TV’s “First Mover” program Friday morning.

• Speaking as G7 leaders were set to meet with central bank digital currencies (CBDC) on their agenda, the regulator sometimes known as “crypto dad” pushed for a U.S. digital dollar that strikes a balance between privacy rights and society’s best interests.
• He also waxed prophetic on the potential reach of China’s digital yuan project, saying that while he is not an alarmist on the world’s fastest-developing CBDC, governments must remain mindful of its reach.
• “A digital yuan would present the opportunity to basically bypass the global bank based system and arrange for direct payments, and therefore our ability to use sanctions would be diminished,” he said.