Circle hires former CFTC, US Treasury executive as chief legal officer

Stablecoin issuer Circle has loaded its arsenal to struggle the continued regulatory crackdown on crypto. By July 1, the function of chief authorized officer and head of company affairs will likely be crammed by Heath Tarbert, a high legal professional with a background in all three branches of the USA authorities.

In keeping with a June eight announcement, Tarbert has served in management positions in all three branches of the federal authorities and throughout key regulatory businesses, together with the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC), the Worldwide Group of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the U.S. Treasury, the Monetary Stability Board, and the World Financial institution Group. He additionally served as particular counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and City Affairs.

1/ This morning, @circle introduced that Heath Tarbert is becoming a member of us as Chief Authorized Officer and Head of Company Affairs. Heath joins Circle from @citsecurities (Citadel Securities), was former @CFTC Chair, and labored in @USTreasury, the @WhiteHouse, the DOJ and @USSupremeCourt

— Jeremy Allaire (@jerallaire) June 8, 2023

Tarbert joins Circle Securities almost two years after taking over the function of chief authorized officer at Citadel Securities, overseeing international authorized, compliance, surveillance, and regulatory affairs. He’ll succeed Flavia Naves, normal counsel at Circle, who reportedly introduced a deliberate separation from the corporate earlier this yr.

“The chance to welcome Heath’s experience and management to our government group is a rare step in Circle’s progress as a world firm,” stated Circle’s CEO Jeremy Allaire.

Tarbert’s arrival comes amid renewed regulatory uncertainty round crypto in the USA. Earlier this week, the Securities and Change Fee (SEC) sued cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Binance on numerous costs. Because the FTX debacle final November, the crypto house has confronted regulatory scrutiny, hurting companies and driving capital overseas.

In a latest interview with Bloomberg, Allaire blamed the crypto crackdown by U.S. regulators for the decline in market capitalization of its stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC). Over the previous 12 months, USDC’s stablecoin market share has dropped from 34.88% to 23.05%. The present regulatory surroundings within the U.S. has favored Tether’s USDT stablecoin, whose market share has grown to 65.89% from 47.04% a yr in the past.

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