Tarbert, who served as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman during the Trump administration, will join the cryptocurrency operator on July 1
Cryptocurrency platform Circle Internet Financial hired Heath Tarbert, the former head of the U.S.’s derivatives regulator, to become its new chief legal officer and head of corporate affairs, as the nascent sector faces increasing regulatory scrutiny in the U.S.
Tarbert, who served as the chairman of Commodity Futures Trading Commission during the Trump administration, will join the issuer of the USD Coin stablecoin, or USDC, on July 1 to help with its global growth, Circle said Thursday.
He succeeds Flavia Naves, the general counsel at Circle, who said earlier this year she was leaving the company, Circle said.
Tarbert comes to Circle from Citadel Securities, where he served as chief legal officer of the electronic-trading firm for two years, overseeing its global legal, compliance, surveillance and regulatory policies. Before he was appointed to the CFTC in 2019, he worked in the U.S. Treasury Department, including as the department’s assistant secretary for international markets. Earlier in his career, he served as a Supreme Court law clerk, among other positions.
During his time as the CFTC chairman, Tarbert said that he believed bitcoin, the best-known cryptocurrency, falls within the agency’s jurisdiction.
Circle’s appointment of a former regulator comes in the same week that the U.S. securities regulator cracked down on two major crypto exchanges in an effort to rein in the industry.
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, alleging the overseas company operated an illegal trading platform in the U.S. and misused customers’ funds. The SEC lawsuit also named Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s founder and controlling shareholder, as a defendant.
Binance said it intends to defend its platform and denied allegations that user assets on the Binance.US platform were ever at risk. It had recently been negotiating a settlement with the SEC, but the regulator instead chose to sue, Binance said.
On Tuesday, the SEC sued Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., alleging that the exchange violated rules that require it to register as an exchange and to be overseen by the federal agency.
Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong said he would challenge the SEC to bring more clarity into its regulation of the crypto industry.
