Coinbase Taps Former Facebook Lawyer to Head Legal Team

Coinbase has hired a former U.S. magistrate judge and Facebook legal alum to lead the cryptocurrency exchange giant’s legal team.

• On Wednesday, the San Francisco crypto company announced Paul Grewal, a former judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, will take over Coinbase's global legal operations as chief legal officer.
• Grewal most recently served as vice president and deputy general counsel for Facebook. Before that, he spent five years as a magistrate judge presiding over tech giants’ courtroom battles, including separate lawsuits concerning Apple and Google.
• Grewal “earned the trust of companies and individuals alike for his objectivity and deep understanding of complex technological issues,” Coinbase COO Emilie Choi said in a blog post announcement.
• Coinbase’s previous chief legal officer, Brian Brooks, left the company in March to join the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the U.S. banking regulator. Brooks now heads the OCC on an interim basis.