Bart Chilton, former executive at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and known crypto advocate, has died at age 58 after a reportedly sudden illness. TV channel RT America broke the news on April 27.
A former member of the United States House of Representatives from 1985 to 1995, Chilton served at the CFTC’s Energy and Environmental Advisory Committee and the Global Markets Advisory Committee from 2007 to 2014.
After CFTC, Chilton joined the law firm DLA Piper as a senior policy advisor for regulatory and public policy issues. The former CFTC commissioner was also known for hosting RT’s financial show “Boom Bust.”
As an author and financial, political and policy writer, Chilton often expressed his stance on the crypto and blockchain industry. In 2017, Chilton supported the biggest cryptocurrency bitcoin (BTC) by claiming that it “is not a scam or a fraud,” since people “are actually using Bitcoins to purchase things.” He said:
“I do think it’s sustainable, I don’t know if it’s sustainable at these prices [...] people are willing to pay for it and so if they’re willing to pay for it there is a demand.”
Chilton was also an active supporter of crypto regulation adoption, claiming bitcoin’s high volatility in late 2017 was a sign that regulation was what bitcoin really needed.
In January 2019, Chilton authored a Forbes article entitled “2019's Good, Bad And Ugly Of Cryptos,” which details a parallel between the crypto industry and the 1960s Clint Eastwood movie. In the piece, Chilton expressed hope that cryptocurrencies will pave a way for more financial freedom for the population.
In March 2019, Chilton presented his thoughts on various use cases and potential uses of blockchain — comparing it to bamboo — in a video at Hong Kong Blockchain Week called “Blockchain Dreamers and the Properties of Bamboo.”
Previously, in October 2018, Chilton participated in a Boom Bust interview dubbed “Banks Warming Up To Blockchain?” where he claimed that banks want to stay off of public ledgers because “they are trying to keep control of the financial system.”