On the basis of reports from Coinbase, Jeff Horowitz, the company’s compliance officer, is determined to separate himself from the exchange
The CCO’s departure, however, is not connected to the controversial and debatable posting by the company’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, which appeared last week. It all began when some employees asked the company to take a position on social/political issues such as the Black Lives Matter movement, which prompted the company’s executive statement, where Armstrong proclaimed a non-activist and „apolitical“ position. It is rumoured that this post led to the departure of about 5% of the company’s employees (60 employees).
Before joining Coinbase, Horowitz worked with several other Bitcoin Code review companies, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Lehman Brothers. At the time of his hiring at Coinbase, Horwitz worked for Pershing, a subsidiary of BNY Mellon specializing in brokerage services.
He was Coinbase’s first CCO – a position he has held since 2018. In his two years with the company, Horwitz has achieved several milestones. His effort has been instrumental in defining the anti-money laundering (AML) guidelines for the stock exchange. In addition, he helped the company meet the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force.
The reports also detail that he played a significant role in hiring JPMorgan as the stock exchange’s banking partner. A spokesman for Coinbase corroborated reports on Horowitz’s departure, saying:
„Since joining the company in mid-2018, Jeff has played an active role in helping to shape cryptomoeda and AML regulation with FATF, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Treasury Department and regulators around the world. We thank him for his service and wish him all the best in the future. As we conduct the search for a new CCO, our Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, will take daily responsibility for our compliance programs, with the support of our compliance leaders“.
