Former Goldman Sachs Executive Joins Coinbase as Chief Policy Officer

Faryar Shirzad, former co-chief of Government Affairs at Goldman Sachs has joined Coinbase as the Chief Policy Officer. The cryptocurrency exchange revealed the news in an official blog post and said Shirzad’s 15 years experience at Goldman would come in handy for the platform in shaping their global regulatory policies.

Faryar’s impressive experience — most recently as Global Co-Head of the Office of Government Affairs at Goldman Sachs — will be invaluable as we navigate the evolving global regulatory environment and work with governments around the world on critical issues surrounding the cryptoeconomy.

Shirzad in his 15-year tenure at Goldman Sachs led the bank’s government relations and public policy strategy and helped it navigate through various complex legislative and regulatory developments.

Coinbase went public in April last month, making its debut on Nasdaq as one of the highest valued companies to get listed on the exchange. At the time of listing the exchange was valued at $89 billion with 115 million shares being listed on Nasdaq. The public debut of the crypto platform came amid much fanfare as many called it a breakthrough point for the crypto industry.

Coinbase Eyeing Global Crypto Dominance

Coinbase Inc. reported a phenomenal first quarter of 2021 amid the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies around the world and reported $1.8 billion in revenue in the first quarter alone with over 50 million registered customers. Based out of New York, the crypto trading platform serves customers from around 100 countries with the majority coming from the United States.

The recent appointment of a former Goldman Sachs executive as its chief policy officer indicates the firm’s push for global expansion. Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange has made similar hirings over the past couple of months mostly in line with regulatory compliance and policymaking as it hired two former FATF executives as its government advisor and appointed former OCC-chief Brian Brooks as the CEO of its US-based independent subsidiary Binance.US.