Coinbase Revamps Advisory Board, Welcomes Trump Campaign Manager and Ex-Fed President
Coinbase announced Wednesday that four new members are joining its global advisory council, bringing expertise from finance and politics to help shape the company’s direction. Among them is Chris LaCivita, a political consultant and co-manager of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Also joining the council is William Dudley, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, along with former Democratic Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema—who previously proposed eliminating taxes on crypto transactions under $50. Rounding out the group is Luis Alberto Moreno, Managing Director at Allen & Co. and a member of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Board of Trustees.
Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad, said in a statement to Decrypt that the new members represent “some of the brightest minds across finance, tech, and politics,” adding that their guidance will be valuable as “the world enters a new era for crypto.”
During the Biden administration, Coinbase came under intense scrutiny from the SEC, which accused the exchange of violating regulatory rules in a lawsuit that is now on hold. With Trump’s SEC signaling a more crypto-friendly stance and pushing for regulatory clarity, Coinbase appears to be strengthening its advisory team with influential figures.
“I believe we’ve reached a pivotal moment in crypto’s evolution,” Dudley said. “Coinbase can ensure it is integrated into our financial system in a safe and beneficial way for Americans.”
As president of the New York Fed in 2018, Dudley had cautioned against the “speculative mania around cryptocurrencies,” warning of their lack of underlying value, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Despite Bitcoin’s origins as a challenge to traditional finance—its pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, embedded a reference to bank bailouts in Bitcoin’s first block—Coinbase has embraced the industry’s integration into mainstream markets.
The exchange first partnered with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, in 2022. While BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has been a vocal advocate for Bitcoin, he has also emphasized the broader potential of blockchain technology, particularly in tokenizing financial assets.
Following his recent visit to Davos, where the WEF held its annual meeting, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reiterated the company’s commitment to collaborating with institutional leaders.
“We need crypto to update the entire global financial system to bring these benefits to everyone,” Armstrong wrote in a post on X. “They need an institutional-grade partner like Coinbase, who can build relentlessly through the winters, to feel confident getting into crypto.”
