Crypto Giant Coinbase Shakes Up Its Advisory Board, Adds Trump Campaign Manager

Four new members are joining Coinbase’s advisory council to lend their expertise in finance and politics, the crypto exchange said Wednesday—including the co-manager of President Trump’s latest winning campaign.

William Dudley, a former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Chris LaCivita, a political consultant and co-manager of Trump’s 2024 campaign, are joining Coinbase’s global advisory council, the company said in a press release.

Kyrsten Sinema, a former Democratic Arizona senator—who once proposed eliminating taxes on crypto transactions under $50—will also be joining the council, Coinbase said.

What’s more, Allen & Co. Managing Director Luis Alberto Moreno, who serves on the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum (WEF), will round out the group, Coinbase added.

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad told Decrypt in a statement that the four new members represent “some of the brightest minds across finance, tech, and politics,” who will help guide Coinbase’s direction as “the world enters a new era for crypto.”

Under the Biden administration, Coinbase faced heavy scrutiny from the SEC, which alleged that America’s leading crypto exchange violated agency rules in a now-frozen lawsuit. With Trump’s SEC apparently taking a crypto-friendlier bent with plans to bring about a sense of regulatory clarity, it appears Coinbase is taking on power players to advance its vision.

“I believe we’ve reached a pivotal moment in crypto’s evolution,” Dudley, the former Fed policymaker, said in a statement. “Coinbase can ensure it is integrated into our financial system in a safe and beneficial way for Americans.”

In 2018, as president of the New York Fed, Dudley warned that the “speculative mania around cryptocurrencies” was dangerous because of his perceived lack of underlying value, per the Wall Street Journal.

While Bitcoin’s beginnings are rooted in a skepticism of the existing financial system—Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, embedded a message referencing bank bailouts in Bitcoin’s first block—Coinbase has embraced the industry’s ascent into the mainstream, working with companies who view blockchain as a natural evolution of financial markets.

Coinbase first inked a partnership with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, in 2022. While BlackRock CEO Larry Fink continues to promote Bitcoin, he’s also talked extensively about the benefits associated with the tokenization of securities.

Following a recent trip to Davos, where the WEF holds its annual meeting, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in a post on X that the exchange will work with corporate leaders, from banks to asset managers, as investments accelerate into crypto.

“We need crypto to update the entire global financial system to bring these benefits to everyone,” he wrote. “They need an institutional-grade partner like Coinbase, who can build relentlessly through the winters, to feel confident getting into crypto.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward