Coinbase Hires Chief Compliance Officer In A Major First Step To Legitimizing Cryptocurrency

However, Coinbase is doing its best to help legitimize its cryptocurrency exchange in the eyes of investors with the hiring of veteran finance exec Jeff Horowitz. Horowitz served as the managing director and global head of compliance for Bank of New York Mellon Corp. subsidiary Pershing LLC. In his new role, Horowitz will serve as Coinbase's chief compliance officer. He will be bringing over 12 years of experience at Pershing, and will help direct Coinbase's vision to become the "world’s most trusted and easiest to use cryptocurrency service".

"[Jeff] actively helps shape regulation and industry best practices through his roles on numerous industry and regulatory committees," writes Coinbase. "His experience managing matters related to broker-dealer regulation, asset custodianship, and AML programs makes him a uniquely qualified leader for our compliance team.

"Hiring Jeff is recognition on our part that navigating compliance complexities on a global scale requires a concerted, cross-functional effort, guided by leaders with experience that spans policy, financial services, and corporate governance."

Coinbase was established in 2012 and is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States. It has over 20 million users and has actively traded over $150 billion worth of digital currency.

As we've reported previously, government regulatory agencies around the world are cracking down on exchanges to help prevent fraud and other illegal activities. Horowitz's hiring will go a long way towards ensuring that Coinbase is operating within the confines of the law and taking all precautions to protect the digital currency assets of its customers.

"A number of concerns have been raised regarding the cryptocurrency and ICO markets, including that, as they are currently operating, there is substantially less investor protection than in our traditional securities markets, with correspondingly greater opportunities for fraud and manipulation," said SEC chairman Jay Clayton in December 2017. "Investors should understand that to date no initial coin offerings have been registered with the SEC."