Coinbase Taps SEC Counsel Thaya Knight to Manage Public Policy Team

Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) has hired former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) employee Thaya Knight as its senior public policy manager, Coinbase confirmed to CoinDesk on Monday.

• Knight had been the counsel to Commissioner Elad Roisman at the SEC since November 2020.

• In a LinkedIn post, Knight said Friday was her last day at the commission, noting that “while that departure is bittersweet, I’m very pleased to be joining the public policy team at Coinbase this week.”

• On Friday, Roisman also left his position at the SEC after serving as a commissioner since 2018 and acting chairman from December 2020 to April 2021 when Jay Clayton stepped down and before Gary Gensler took over. Roisman had announced he would be leaving the SEC in December and has not indicated where he is going.

• Between 2018 and 2019, Knight was also the former counsel to SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce.

Read more: SEC Delays Decision on NYDIG’s Spot Bitcoin ETF Proposal

UPDATE (Jan. 24, 19:58 UTC): Added confirmation from Coinbase.