Coinbase’s current VP and General Counsel for Business Lines and Markets, Dorothy Dewitt, is leaving the exchange to become Director of Market Oversight at the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC).
Dewitt’s LinkedIn profile indicates she’s been working at Coinbase for 11 months.
The CFTC, “polices…derivatives markets,” in the US, and, “seeks to lower the risk of the futures and swaps markets to the economy and the public.” Coinbase (Pro) is currently the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US.
“I am excited Dorothy will soon be joining our team,” said CFTC Chair Heath Tarbert. “She brings to the CFTC more than 20 years of private sector experience in the financial services and legal fields. Her strong investment, risk, legal, and compliance background and familiarity with distributed ledger technology, including crypto assets, will be invaluable as the agency looks to develop a holistic approach to regulating 21st century commodities.”
DeWitt is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Texas. She is also a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist licensed to practice law in New York.
Before becoming VP at Coinbase, Dewitt worked in, “senior legal and compliance roles for Citadel Securities…(at) S&P Global, and as an attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell.”
As well, she spent, “…nearly a decade…as a portfolio manager of alternative investment funds that relied heavily on derivatives and swaps.”
DeWitt was a partner, portfolio manager, and general counsel at Cadogan Management. She also managed arbitrage, credit, event-driven and fixed income investments for the GAM Multi-Arbitrage Fund London.
Dewitt has also worked as a research analyst, “at a merger arbitrage and event-driven hedge fund at ING Furman Selz.” Prior to commencing her career in the private sector, she clerked for US District Court Judge John E. Sprizzo in the Southern District of New York.
A number of executives have moved on from Coinbase in the last year, including COO Asiff Hirji and CTO Balaji Srinivasan.