Coinbase taps former Stripe exec to serve as chief compliance officer

Coinbase has hired a new chief compliance officer, according to a Tuesday announcement from the U.S. crypto exchange company.

Melissa Strait will spearhead Coinbase's anti-money laundering and know-your-customer strategies. She previously worked for Stripe, serving as global head of financial crimes after a stint as its U.S.-focused compliance officer. Before that, she worked for Square's compliance department.

"In her past roles, Melissa helped to build teams during the critical moments of growth and regulation within the traditional fintech industry. As we continue to move forward with the mainstream adoption of crypto, her experience will be vital in ensuring our innovative technology is aligned with global compliance standards," Coinbase said in a statement.

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Strait represents the latest senior hire for Coinbase, and one of a series related to legal matters. 

Coinbase took on Paul Grewal, a former U.S. Magistrate Judge and deputy general counsel to Facebook, as its chief legal officer in July 2020. In October 2020, Coinbase hired former Google product lawyer Milana McCullagh and Dyson’s litigation lawyer Katherine Minarik as vice presidents and deputy general counsels for product/commercial and litigation, respectively.

Strait's hire comes as Coinbase prepares to go public in the coming weeks.

About Author

MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020 — joining just before bitcoin surpassed $20,000 for the first time. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering any and all crypto news but with a penchant toward NFT, metaverse, web3 gaming, funding, crime, hack and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.