Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal is leaving the exchange after helping lead its legal strategy through a years-long fight with U.S. regulators. Molly Abraham will lead the legal team as general counsel, while Ryan Van Grack moves into a vice chairman role.
Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal is leaving the exchange after helping lead its legal strategy through a years-long fight with U.S. regulators. Molly Abraham will lead the legal team as general counsel, while Ryan Van Grack moves into a vice chairman role.
Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal is leaving the company after a six-year tenure that included the exchange's high-profile legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Coinbase said Thursday that Grewal will move on to work at a startup, while continuing to advise the company.
Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal is leaving the company after a six-year tenure that included the exchange's high-profile legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Coinbase said Thursday that Grewal will move on to work at a startup, while continuing to advise the company.
The leadership change matters because Coinbase has been one of the central companies in the U.S. crypto industry's fight over how digital asset markets should be regulated. Its dispute with the SEC became a test case for the agency's argument that major crypto platforms were operating outside securities laws.
Molly Abraham, who joined Coinbase in March 2021 and has served as vice president of legal, will now lead the company's legal team as general counsel. Ryan Van Grack, who previously led Coinbase's litigation work and formerly served as general counsel at Citadel Securities, will become vice chairman in a role expected to be broader and more public-facing.
The SEC sued Coinbase in 2023, alleging the exchange operated as an unregistered broker, clearinghouse and exchange for securities. The regulator, then led by Gary Gensler, brought similar cases against other crypto exchanges before later dropping the Coinbase suit after Donald Trump returned to office.
During Grewal's tenure, Coinbase also pursued court actions seeking internal SEC documents on the agency's crypto regulatory approach and petitioned to force the regulator to write crypto-specific rules. Grewal said he will continue advising Coinbase and working on the company's trust charter efforts with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
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