Coinbase chief legal officer paul grewal is stepping down effective immediately - x post

Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal is stepping down after six years, with Molly Abraham taking over as general counsel and Ryan VanGrack becoming the company's first vice chair and head of corporate affairs.

Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal is ​stepping down after six years at the U.S. ​crypto giant where he fought off ‌a ​landmark suit brought by the U.S. securities regulator and played an instrumental role in the crypto industry's Washington campaign to secure industry-friendly policies.

Grewal will step down ‌effective immediately, with Molly Abraham, Coinbase's vice president of legal, moving into his role with the title of general counsel, the company told Reuters. Coinbase is also naming Ryan VanGrack, who is currently vice president of legal, as the ‌company's first vice chair and head of corporate affairs, Coinbase said. Grewal first posted news of his departure ‌on X.

Grewal's time at Coinbase was partly defined by a years-long legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued Coinbase in 2023 alleging the company had flouted its rules by facilitating trading in crypto tokens that it said should have registered as ⁠securities ​with the watchdog. Legal experts saw ⁠the case as existential for Coinbase and the broader crypto industry, which had long sought to avoid costly SEC oversight. The agency ⁠under U.S. President Donald Trump, who courted crypto money on the campaign trail, dismissed the case last year, a massive ​win for Grewal, Coinbase and the industry. Coinbase has been a top advocate for the crypto industry ⁠as it has sought policy changes in Washington to put it on a solid legal footing, with Grewal at the forefront of those ⁠efforts.

Most ​recently, he had also been involved in deliberations on highly anticipated legislation -- dubbed the Clarity Act -- that would create federal rules for cryptocurrencies. The bill had been bogged down for months by a dispute between ⁠crypto companies and banks, but advanced out of a key Senate committee in May. "After helping to take the company ⁠public, fighting the ⁠SEC and winning, moving us from Delaware to Texas, working to get GENIUS and soon CLARITY passed into law, and so much more – now is my time for new ‌adventures," Grewal ‌said in a post on X.