Former Comptroller Brian Brooks gets a new gig as Bitfury CEO

Former Comptroller of the Currency and Binance.US CEO Brian Brooks has been announced as the new CEO of crypto (BTC) mining firm BitFury.

According to a Nov. 4 announcement from Bitfury, Brooks was appointed last Friday and he will lead the firm as it prepares for a new funding round. Bitfury founder and former CEO Valery Vavilov will serve as Chief Vision Officer and the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

“Mr. Brooks will lead the 10-year-old crypto unicorn as it launches a new funding round, increases the growth of its mining business with a revolutionary new microchip design and new global data center locations, and scales a portfolio of innovative businesses,” the breathless announcement read.

Bitfury’s last funding round occurred in 2018, when it raised $80 million at a valuation of $1 billion. Vavilov confirmed to Cointelegraph on Oct. 18 that the firm was considering a new fundraise via a potential initial public offering (IPO), but nothing is concrete at this stage.

Prior to this role, Brooks worked at Binance’s U.S. branch for a mere three months before resigning in August this year. Many onlookers speculated that the decision was due to prior knowledge about regulatory issues plaguing the firm.

Brooks also worked as Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer between 2018 and 2020, and is well-liked amongst the crypto community due to his strongly pro-crypto stance while serving as the Acting Comptroller of the Currency.

During his time at the agency between May 2020 to January 2021, Brooks oversaw the enactment of the fintech banking charter that enabled fintech firms and crypto companies to offer lending and payment products without oversight from state banking regulators.

Related: Cipher Mining splashes $350M on next-gen Bitcoin mining rigs from Bitfury

“Brian is a respected executive and thought leader with deep regulatory, digital asset and capital markets expertise who shares Bitfury’s vision for a decentralized peer-to-peer economy,” Vavilov said.

Bitfury was established in 2011 and is one of the largest companies in the blockchain sector. It operates mobile data centers and provides a wide range of services such as crypto mining hardware design, software and artificial intelligence products.