The cryptocurrency exchange has been facing mounting scrutiny in the U.S. since it was sued by the SEC last June.
Coinbase Global Inc. has appointed former United Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne as an adviser, as the crypto exchange is facing mounting regulatory scrutiny in the United States.
Crypto firms have been increasingly hiring former politicians amid mounting regulatory pressure.
Osborne joins several other notable political figures on Coinbase’s Global Advisory Board,
including former United States Senator Patrick Toomey, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper and former U.S. Congressperson Sean Patrick Maloney.
The former finance minister brings significant experience in government and international affairs, having served as Chancellor from 2010 to 2016.
Osborne has also served as an adviser to BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, from 2017 to 2021.
“There’s a huge amount of exciting innovation in finance right now,” Osborne said of his appointment at Coinbase. “Blockchains are transforming financial markets and online transactions.
Coinbase is at the frontier of these developments. I look forward to working with the team there as they build a new future in financial services.”
Osborne has not rested on his laurels since he left his government post in 2016. He has held numerous high-level positions and is still the chairman of the British Museum.
The former Chancellor’s experience could prove useful for Coinbase, which was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year in June for offering unregistered securities.
The financial regulator alleged that Coinbase never registered as a broker, national securities exchange or clearing agency, evading the disclosure scheme for securities markets.
The SEC also alleged that several tokens offered on the exchange, including Solana’s SOL
SOL
tickers down
$169
, Cardano’s ADA
ADA
tickers down
$0.46
, Polygon’s MATIC
MATIC
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$0.7340
, Filecoin
FIL
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$5.94
, The Sandbox
SAND
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$0.45
, Axie Infinity
AXS
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$7.77
, Chiliz (CHZ), Flow
FLOW
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$0.94
, Internet Computer
ICP
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$12.14
, Near
NEAR
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$7.68
, Voyager Token (VGX), Dash
DASH
tickers down
$30
and Nexo (NEXO), qualify as unregistered securities.
Coinbase has a 70% chance of full dismissal in the SEC lawsuit, according to a Jan. 19 X post from Bloomberg senior litigation analyst Elliott Stein.
