ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, OKX's global general counsel Melissa Muehlfeld has recently confirmed her departure.Muehlfeld joined OKX's U.S. subsidiary OKcoin as deputy general counsel in May 2022 and was promoted to her current position in August 2024. This is another high-level change in the exchange's legal compliance team following OKX's $500 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in February this year.The new Chief Legal Officer Linda Lacewell (former head of the New York Department of Financial Services) is currently leading the restructuring of the legal compliance department. Previously, the exchange had replaced Chief Legal Officer Mauricio Beugelmans and Compliance Officer Vanessa Zhang. An OKX spokesperson stated that the company does not comment on personnel changes according to company policy.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, Bitwise General Counsel Katherine Dowling stated, "Despite concerns that Trump's meme token may create an environment where participation opportunities are paid for, his involvement in the crypto industry is beneficial. Legislators should ignore the political noise and advance the crypto legislative process."

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the general counsel and compliance officer of crypto market maker Portofino Technologies has left the company. Celyn Armstrong had worked at this cryptocurrency trading firm in London for over three years. Previously, the company's former chief financial officer Mark Blackborough also recently left the company, and quantitative developer Cristian Dinu has also left the company to join competitor market maker Optiver.Portofino stated that it is exploring the establishment of new offices in New York and Singapore, with Dilan Bastin taking on the role of its new compliance officer.

ChainCatcher news, encrypted journalist Eleanor Terrett posted on social media that, according to sources familiar with the transition, Kalshi's Chief Regulatory Officer and General Counsel Eliezer Mishory will be leaving to join Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.).

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, venture capital fund a16z Crypto has appointed its General Counsel Miles Jennings as Head of Policy. Founding General Partner Chris Dixon announced the appointment on Tuesday, noting that the fund's former Head of Policy Brian Quintenz will be leaving to accept Senate confirmation as the next Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).According to Jennings' LinkedIn profile, he has served as the fund's General Counsel for over three years and was previously a partner at Latham & Watkins law firm. Jennings will take over Quintenz's position, focusing on legislative discussions with the hope of signing stablecoin and market structure legislation into law by the end of this year.

ChainCatcher news, Animoca Brands announced the appointment of Jamii Quoc as General Counsel. Jamii will play a key role in expanding the capabilities of the legal and compliance team to support the company's growth and drive the next phase of organizational maturity. Additionally, Jamii has joined the Executive Committee of Animoca Brands. Jamii joined Animoca Brands in 2022 as the Head of Legal - Business and M&A, and she is also a member of the Hong Kong Government Web3 Regulatory Group, Web3 Harbour, and other industry associations.Jamii has 25 years of legal experience as an M&A/PE lawyer in private practice and in-house environments. Before joining Animoca Brands, she served as General Counsel at Meridian Capital, leading the legal team in M&A and financing transactions, securities compliance, dispute resolution, and restructuring. Prior to her tenure at Meridian Capital, Jamii was a partner in the M&A practice at Kirkland & Ellis.

ChainCatcher news, according to Blockworks, Bitwise General Counsel and former U.S. prosecutor Katherine Dowling stated that the SEC is currently in a "transition period" and is waiting for the confirmation of the new chairman Paul Atkins.Dowling pointed out that the cooperation between the SEC and CFTC is strengthening, and the newly established cryptocurrency working group has a positive attitude. However, on the issue of the securities characteristics of assets like XRP and Solana, the SEC still needs guidance from the new leadership. She expects that the Bitcoin and Ethereum combo ETF will be approved relatively quickly, while other cryptocurrency asset ETFs will require a longer approval time.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, SEC General Counsel Megan Barbero will leave on January 20. Previously, SEC Enforcement Division Director Gurbir Grewal left in October 2024, and Accounting Division Director Paul Munter also announced his upcoming departure this week. Barbero has served as General Counsel since February 2023, responsible for guiding the SEC in legal disputes with crypto companies in federal court.

ChainCatcher news, Jito Labs founder buffalu announced the appointment of Rebecca Rettig as the company's Chief Legal Officer (CLO), who will officially take office next week.Rebecca previously served as the Legal Director at Talos and has extensive experience in the DeFi space. At Jito Labs, she will lead legal, compliance, and policy matters, focusing on the evolving staking ETF space and participating in the development of MEV-related policies.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Centrifuge's General Counsel Eli Cohen stated in an interview that the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) is becoming a key bridge for traditional financial institutions to connect with decentralized finance (DeFi), and is expected to see significant developments by 2025 through enhanced liquidity, accessibility, and transparency.Cohen pointed out that currently, RWAs mainly provide underlying yields for the primary stablecoins in the DeFi ecosystem in the form of tokenized government bonds. Against the backdrop of high government bond yields and increasing competition among stablecoin issuers, the market will shift towards "investments that offer higher returns but are still safe." He anticipates that the expanding demand for yields will drive the emergence of more diversified tokenized products.Regarding regulation, Cohen predicts that the new Trump administration will publicly reject restrictive policies (such as Operation Chokepoint 2.0), which will help open banking and brokerage channels and promote the birth of more tokenized products.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, Tether's General Counsel has retired after the MiCA stablecoin regulations came into effect. Under the stricter regulations of MiCA that took effect at the end of last year, Michael Hilliard was responsible for legal matters concerning stablecoin issuers and exchanges.

ChainCatcher news, Tether and Bitfinex announced on Thursday that as the stricter regulations of MiCA came into effect at the end of last year, Bitfinex's General Counsel Stuart Hoegner has retired, with Michael Hilliard taking over the legal affairs of the stablecoin issuer and exchange.According to a statement, Hoegner and Hilliard have jointly led the legal work of both companies for several years.

ChainCatcher news, Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal posted on LinkedIn that Coinbase has hired Ryan VanGrack to join its legal team as Vice President of Legal Litigation.According to reports, Ryan previously served as General Counsel at the globally renowned market maker Citadel Securities. Ryan has extensive experience in legal and regulatory affairs, including work at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the White House.

ChainCatcher news, according to official news, the Mina Foundation has appointed former Chief Legal Officer of the Web3 Foundation, Daniel Schoenberger, as General Counsel.

ChainCatcher news, a16z Crypto's General Counsel Miles Jennings wrote about how to organize decentralization in startups. He proposed three main decentralization frameworks and explained the importance and implementation methods of each framework.Technical Decentralization: Creating a trustless and autonomous ecosystem through blockchain and smart contract protocols. For example, Ethereum needs to protect the system from attacks by validators and node operators, while simple smart contract protocols can achieve technical decentralization by being deployed and immutable.Economic Decentralization: Introducing digital assets makes the Web3 ecosystem more complex. For example, Ethereum uses its digital assets to reward service providers, creating a decentralized economic system. If too much value is concentrated in one person's hands, it could jeopardize the security and utility of the entire system.Legal Decentralization: Decentralization can reduce the risks associated with asset transactions. For instance, decentralized exchanges eliminate the need for intermediaries, making traditional intermediary rules no longer applicable. For digital assets, if the Web3 system can eliminate information asymmetry and reliance on the efforts of managers, then securities laws may no longer apply.Jennings emphasized that in a Web3 system, these three types of decentralization must be considered in conjunction, as changes in one aspect may affect the others, and a delicate balance must be found.

ChainCatcher news, Anchorage Digital's General Counsel Georgia Quinn has left the company, and there is currently no successor for the position. The Anchorage legal team is now reporting to the Chief Operating Officer. Quinn continues to consult for the company and assist in the search for a successor.A screenshot of a message posted by Anchorage CEO Nathan McCauley in the company's Slack channel at the end of November last year shows that Georgia Quinn joined the bank as General Counsel in 2020 and played a key role in helping the company obtain the first federal banking charter for a U.S. cryptocurrency company. The message mentioned that Quinn "decided to take some time off."Quinn told Business Insider that her departure is unrelated to Anchorage's regulatory status and that she is satisfied with her departure, as her team is strengthening compliance programs.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, former FTX General Counsel Can Sun testified that FTX's Series C funding began in "late summer and fall of 2022." A spreadsheet shows that 15 potential investors, including BlackRock, Google, and Apollo, had expressed interest in participating in this round of financing, with the likelihood of investment from BlackRock and Google being "moderate." Both companies conducted due diligence on FTX before its bankruptcy.In addition, the likelihood of participation from venture capital firm NEA and the Qatar Investment Authority is "moderate," while the probability of involvement from Temasek and Standard Crypto is "high."

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, former FTX General Counsel Can Sun testified in the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), stating that in November 2022, the asset management company Apollo Global Management expressed interest in investing in FTX and requested copies of financial statements. When the copies were prepared, Can Sun discovered a $7 billion gap related to Alameda on FTX's balance sheet. Subsequently, Can Sun resigned from the company. Can Sun previously worked at Fenwick and West and joined FTX in August 2021.Can Sun also stated that as General Counsel, he was initially unaware of the serious flaws in FTX, which allowed the sister trading company Alameda Research to borrow user funds without consent. Shortly after joining FTX, he realized that Alameda was not actually subject to automatic liquidation, and its balance on FTX could potentially become negative. Therefore, he discussed the matter of removing that feature with FTX's leadership.In discussions with SBF, engineering head Nishad Singh, and FTX Chief Regulatory Officer Dan Friedberg, Can Sun stated that he urged for changes and received a commitment: Alameda would receive "delayed liquidation" instead of not being automatically liquidated, and other institutional market makers on FTX would also be able to use the same feature. However, these changes were never implemented.Can Sun was also responsible for documenting the loans that Alameda issued to SBF, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh so they could purchase equity in FTX. However, Can Sun stated that he was unaware that these funds actually came from FTX user deposits. Additionally, Can Sun himself received a $2.3 million loan from Alameda to buy a house in the Bahamas. Later, out of caution, Can Sun requested government protection.

ChainiCatcher news, according to The Block, Paradigm's Chief Financial Officer Nathan Apsel and General Counsel Reena Jashnani-Slusarz will be leaving in mid-month. According to insiders, the current Chief Legal Officer Katie Biber will continue to lead the legal team, and the company will announce a new Chief Financial Officer in the coming months. It was also added that the company will not be conducting layoffs.