The French government has granted former US Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Chris Giancarlo, also known as “Crypto Dad”, the equivalent of a knighthood.
In a Tuesday tweet from Giancarlo, the former head of the CFTC said that the French National Order of Merit awarded him a knight – the equivalent of a knighthood – at a ceremony at the residence of the French ambassador in Washington DC Attendees included current and former CFTC Commissioners Rostin Behnam, Brian Quintenz, Christy Goldsmith Romero, Kristin Johnson, Caroline Pham, as well as Hester Peirce of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Merci for honor of l’Ordre National du Mérite at the Résidence de France before mes amis @CFTCbehnam @BrianQuintenz @HesterPeirce Dawn StumpDan Berkovitz @CFTCcgr @CFTCjohnson @CFTCpham @CFTC @the_afx @WillkieFarr @WhartonCypher pic.twitter.com/rI9MYzaI8a
— Chris Giancarlo (@giancarloMKTS) June 28, 2022
The order announced Giancarlo’s appointment in May. Phillippe Etienne, French ambassador to the United States, said the award was due in part to “understanding of financial markets and the potentials of crypto finance.” of the former chairman of the CFTC.
“[Este premio] acknowledges creating well-regulated cryptocurrency trading markets and strengthening regulatory ties abroad with the help of many fine public servants during my time of government service,” Giancarlo said at that moment.
Giancarlo served as CFTC chairman for five years before leaving in April 2019. During his time at the government agency, he oversaw the launch of regulated Bitcoin (BTC) futures and is alleged to have taken a “do no harm” approach to blockchain regulation, earning him the nickname Crypto Dad.
Since leaving the CFTC, Giancarlo has joined blockchain investment firm CoinFund as a strategic advisor, the board of blockchain startup Digital Asset, and briefly the board of crypto lending firm BlockFi. He currently works as a senior counsel at the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
Other individuals who have been knighted by their respective governments have joined the cryptocurrency space in various ways. Sir Richard Starkey, aka Beatles member Ringo Starr, launched his own line of non-fungible tokens on June 13. the star of star trekWilliam Shatner, who tokenized a number of trading cards in 2020, was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2019 – although many have said the honor is not equivalent to a knighthood.
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