United States policy, Aptos Labs announced that its co-founder and CEO, Avery Ching, has been named a member of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee under the Global Markets Advisory Committee.
Avery Ching Takes Up CFTC Appointment
Avery Ching’s journey to this high-profile role is rooted in his deep expertise in tech and blockchain. A co-founder of Aptos Labs, Ching has been a driving force behind the Aptos blockchain, a layer-1 network known for its speed and scalability, designed to power decentralized apps and smart contracts. Before joining Aptos, Ching worked at Meta, where he helped scale platforms like Instagram, gaining hands-on experience in building technology for millions of users.
His technical chops and leadership in blockchain innovation likely caught the CFTC’s eye, as the agency seeks voices from the crypto world to guide fair and effective regulations. The subcommittee, formed in February 2023 under CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham, aims to foster cooperation between industry leaders and regulators, making Ching’s appointment a natural fit.
What Ching Brings to the Table
The CFTC’s Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee is tasked with advising on policies that strike a balance between innovation and oversight in the rapidly growing cryptocurrency space. Ching joins a mix of crypto and traditional finance leaders, like Polygon Labs’ Rebecca Rettig and Nasdaq’s Tony Sio, to tackle issues like market structure and compliance. The CFTC likely expects Ching to offer insights from Aptos’ blockchain business.
Ching is expected to bring a vision of blockchain as a core infrastructure for the internet, focusing on transparency and efficiency, as seen in his recent talks about AI agents managing tokenized assets. His expertise could help shape rules that support growth while protecting investors, especially as the CFTC’s crypto oversight grows amid leadership changes.
Meanwhile, Ching’s appointment is part of a broader trend of crypto leaders joining regulatory bodies to bridge the gap between innovation and policy. For instance, just last year, in June 2024, Aptos Labs’ former CEO, Mo Shaikh, was named to the same CFTC subcommittee, showing Aptos’ growing influence. Similarly, executives from Polygon Labs and Uniswap Labs have recently joined, reflecting the CFTC’s push to include Web3 expertise.
