Brian Brooks, the former Coinbase executive who helmed the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) under U.S. President Donald Trump, will become CEO of Binance.US. He stepped down from the public sector on Jan. 14, 2021, and in March, he joined the board of data-sharing startup Spring Labs. The Binance US move is clearly far more significant.

Brian Brooks will be the new CEO of Binance US.

Brooks was Chief Legal Officer at Coinbase for 19 months, and shortly after the Comptroller of the Currency in the U.S. During his time as Comptroller, Brooks released guidance that made it easier for institutions to trade cryptocurrencies with particular focus on stablecoins. This led to Brooks being given the moniker ‘CryptoComptroller’ on social media. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao commented, “Brian is an esteemed leader with an unparalleled blend of experience across traditional financial services, government, and the digital assets industry.” “His knowledge and expertise will be invaluable as Binance.US continues to expand,” C.Z. added.

Coinbase also hired a former SEC director to lead its market-capita division. 

The U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase recently hired Brett Redfearn, a former SEC director, to lead its capital-markets division. The crypto exchange recently went public via a direct listing on Nasdaq that made headlines. As reported earlier, Redfearn, who previously ran the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and left public service late last year, will oversee operations, brokerage, and custody services at Coinbase. Coinbase Chief Product Officer Surojit Chatterjee said 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.”