Crypto industry listens when Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong talks.
Twisted Sister’s first song from 1984, “Twisted Sister”, was a great inspiration for his recent X-post. “We’re not gonna take it anymore.” I would not hear about this until years after my birth.
Here’s what you might have missed:
Armstrong criticized the hiring of Gurbir Grewal who was the SEC enforcement division director from 2021. He left the agency in Oct and then joined Milbank LLP’s litigation and arbitration group later that same month.
According to a release from the firm, during Grewal’s term as chairman of the Commission there were more than 2,400 actions taken against Grewal. “more than 100 enforcement actions addressing noncompliance in the crypto space.”
Milbank did not respond to my question.
According to a source familiar with the issue, Milbank did not work for Coinbase.
McGuireWoods hired David Hirsch in August, the former head of SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit. Coinbase and McGuireWoods’ relationship is not clear, nor did a McGuireWoods rep immediately respond to a request for comment.
Armstrong’s blog post is meant to start a conversation about the public crypto exchange and provide some transparency.
Paul Grewal, the chief legal officer at Coinbase, told me that some law firms may not be as familiar with crypto or understand it. “deeply personal” Industry players have felt the impact of SEC enforcement action.
“This was more than just, we have a good-faith disagreement about the law, so let’s resolve this in an amicable way,” He said. “It has felt for three and a half years that this industry has been under attack [and] unfairly attacked.”
Companies can, of course, hire whomever they choose. Coinbase, and others can also choose whom they work with.
Armstrong’s Post “did catch people’s attention in the big law world,” Grewal stated. It will be interesting to see whether it has any impact on the hiring decisions of firms. In either case, the message is clear.
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