Coinbase Custody Adds New York Banking Regulatory Experts to Its Board

Coinbase Custody Trust Company has appointed two new members, previously of the New York State Banking Department and the New York Department of Financial Services, to its Board of Directors.

Welcoming banking regulatory veterans

Per a blog post published on Aug. 8, New York banking regulatory experts Richard Neiman and Robert Easton will now be a part of Coinbase Custody’s Board of Directors. The company claims Neiman and Easton to be particularly important for its further development as Coinbase Custody is regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

Prior to joining Coinbase Custody, Neiman held positions as superintendent of the New York State Banking Department, president of TD Bank USA, vice chairman of PwC’s global financial regulatory practice, and is currently employed as Head of Public Policy at San Francisco-based peer-to-peer lending company LendingClub, among other appointments.

Easton is generally known for its service in the risk management and compliance fields. Worth noting, Easton spent almost 15 years in various leadership positions in the New York State financial regulatory system. Currently, he also holds a position of a Deputy General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of global professional services firm Marsh LLC.

In close relationship with regulators

Major American crypto exchange Coinbase launched Coinbase Custody last July, focusing on institutional customers and optimized to store large amounts of digital currency. Coinbase Custody also uses systems from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-registered broker-dealer and FINRA-member Electronic Transaction Clearing.

In October 2018, the NYDFS authorized Coinbase Custody to provide a limited range of custody services for virtual currencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ether (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), XRP and Litecoin (LTC).

In May, NYSE Arca filed a proposed rule change with the SEC for an application to list shares in a BTC investment trust that would be backed by the cryptocurrency and T-bills. The agency appointed Coinbase Custody to maintain custody of the proposed Trust’s Bitcoin assets in cold storage.