Former CFTC head joins Circle as chief legal officer

Quick Take

  • Circle has hired Heath Tarbert, the former chairman of the United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission, as its new chief legal officer.

Circle — the company behind stablecoin USDC — has hired Heath Tarbert, the former chairman of the United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission, as its new chief legal officer, the company announced Thursday. 

Tarbert, who left the CFTC after an 18-month tenure with the financial regulator, joined Circle from market-making firm Citadel Securities, where he also held the top legal role. According to a press release, Tarbert is replacing Flavia Naves, who left Circle earlier this year.

"The opportunity to welcome Heath's expertise and leadership to our executive team is an extraordinary step in Circle's growth as a global company," commented Jeremy Allaire, Circle's co-founder and CEO. "As we continue building a bridge between traditional finance and Web3, Heath's perspective, legal acumen and global regulatory experience will help us advance the utility value of USDC worldwide."

THE SCOOP

Keep up with the latest news, trends, charts and views on crypto and DeFi with a new biweekly newsletter from The Block's Frank Chaparro

By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

The hire comes as Circle ramps up its policy efforts in Washington to build support for the crypto industry among lawmakers. Recently, Allaire appeared on the cover of Forbes with the caption "please regulate us."

Tarbert's move also comes at an increasingly difficult time for the cryptocurrency space, which is under pressure from a more hostile U.S. regulatory environment in the wake of the meltdown of crypto exchange FTX. Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance and Coinbase. The latter exchange launched USDC with Circle in 2018.


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].

Editor

To contact the editor of this story:
Adam James at
[email protected]