New York Financial Regulator Appoints Kenneth Coghill to Lead Virtual Currency Unit
New York’s financial regulator has appointed Kenneth Coghill, a former official from Dubai’s financial regulator, to help oversee its virtual currency unit that regulates crypto businesses in the state, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Kenneth Coghill, who recently served as the director and head of innovation and technology risk supervision at the Dubai Financial Services Authority, began his new role on Thursday as the deputy superintendent of virtual currency at the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). He succeeds Peter Marton, who left in October to join the crypto platform Fireblocks as its director of digital identity.
At the Dubai Financial Services Authority, Kenneth Coghill led the team responsible for overseeing the licensing and supervision of new technology-related business models, including cryptocurrency service providers and alternative lending platforms. Before that, he worked as a market regulation department manager at Cboe Options Exchange and began his career as an options trader.
This appointment follows the recent hiring of John Melican as the deputy superintendent for limited-purpose and virtual currency trusts at at the New York State Department of Financial Services. John Melican succeeded David Hunter, who served from December 2022, and was previously the chief legal officer at blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.
John Melican will focus on supervising and examining entities seeking to create trusts in New York and evaluating their applications, including businesses related to custody, tokenization, or launching stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to real-world money like the U.S. dollar.
These two appointments come as the NYDFS’s crypto unit has grown to over 60 individuals. NYDFS aims to leverage New York’s role as an industry leader in financial services to help set the regulatory agenda nationwide, particularly in the crypto space, as stated by Superintendent Adrienne Harris to The Wall Street Journal in 2022.
