Coinbase Hires Former UK Chancellor Osborne for Advisory Council

Philip Lagerkranser, Bloomberg News

George Osborne Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images , Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

(Bloomberg) -- Coinbase Global Inc. hired former UK Chancellor George Osborne for its advisory council as the cryptocurrency exchange battles US regulators and expands in overseas markets.

Crypto companies have turned to ex-politicians as they try to navigate pressures from regulators around the world. In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority has recently imposed rules around the marketing of crypto services. Binance Holdings Ltd. and Copper Technologies Ltd. are among firms that have hired former UK officials.

Coinbase has staffed its advisory council with people ranging from national security experts to former congressmen, a testament to the various legal and regulatory issues crypto companies must contend with.

They include former Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, who chaired the Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development subcommittee of the House Committee on Agriculture, as well as former Ohio state Senator Tim Ryan, who helped fix the digital-asset reporting provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Coinbase added four national security experts in November to the body to help “examine what consequences will result from regulatory uncertainty for crypto in the United States,” the exchange said in an earlier statement.

Osborne has taken jobs across the private sector since serving as UK chancellor from 2010 to 2016, including as partner of boutique investment bank Robey Warshaw and chair of the British Museum. He’s also a visiting professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, according to the press release.

“We look forward to relying on his insights and experiences as we grow Coinbase around the world,” San Fransisco-based Coinbase said in a statement on Wednesday.

(Updates with detail on advisory council from third paragraph.)