Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has officially announced it has hired former SEC official Brett Redfearn for the VP position of its capital markets division.
Redfearn was previously in charge of SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets until he left the position in late 2020. He will now be in charge of exchange operations, brokerage, and custody services at Coinbase.
The reveal was made in a blog post, in which Coinbase CPO Surojit Chatterjee wrote that Redfearn “will be responsible for defining and driving a vision and strategy to set the global standard for crypto capital markets, including digital asset securities and our crypto trading platform.”
Redfearn mentioned in the blog post that he initially got most of his information regarding crypto via enforcement actions taken against initial coin offerings.
“Nonetheless, through it all, I appreciated the significant potential in this space if issuers, markets, and market participants could appropriately navigate the regulatory landscape. And that is something I can help make happen.”
He also said that recent regulations implemented by the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency “are paving the way for greater opportunities for the crypto economy.”
The hiring of Redfearn comes just in time as Coinbase is preparing to go public via a direct listing on Nasdaq sometime in the next few weeks.