Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) is announcing the addition of four new distinguished members to Coinbase’s Global Advisory Council: Mark Esper, Stephanie Murphy, Frances Townsend, and David Urban.
The Global Advisory Council was established “with the purpose of bringing together accomplished leaders with strategic insights to advise Coinbase’s executive leadership team.”
In collaboration with members of the Coinbase Asset Management Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council, which “comprises former regulators and industry experts, the Advisory Council actively contributes to advancing Coinbase’s vision of ushering in a new era of the internet through crypto and blockchain technologies.”
Dr. Mark T. Esper “was U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2019 to 2020, following a long career in the private sector, public service, and the military, including as Secretary of the Army, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and as senior professional staff on various Senate and House national security-related committees. Dr. Esper was also a senior executive at a prestigious think tank and business associations, serves on public policy and business boards, and is the recipient of multiple civilian and military awards.”
Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) is “a former U.S. representative, policy expert, and businesswoman. Serving Florida’s 7ᵗʰ congressional district from 2017 to 2023, Stephanie’s committee assignments included Armed Services, where she was vice chair of the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations. Prior to her Congressional career, Stephanie was a national security specialist for the U.S. Department of Defense, where she helped set the department’s strategic direction and priorities for security cooperation and contingency planning.”
Frances Townsend “adds her diverse national security political and corporate expertise, which includes serving as Counterterrorism and Homeland Security Advisor to President George W. Bush, leading corporate affairs for Activision Blizzard, and as Vice Chair for MacAndrews & Forbes. She currently advises a diverse range of organizations, including Chubb, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Atlantic Council.”
David Urban reportedly “brings more than three decades of experience in the military, law, business, politics and public service sectors. That experience includes providing strategic advice and counsel to companies as a managing director at BRG Group, overseeing the corporate affairs of ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company), and teaching at Carnegie Mellon University. Earlier in his career, David was chief of staff to former U.S. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. He is on the Board of Directors of Virtu Financial, Subcom and Stratolaunch Systems and is an active member of the US Global Leadership Coalition’s Conservative Foreign Policy Study Group.”
With deep national security expertise, Esper, Murphy, Townsend, and Urban will help the Council examine what consequences will result from regulatory uncertainty for crypto in the United States, “including the long-term economic and national security impacts. As the majority of major economies modify regulatory frameworks to address crypto, the U.S. is at unique risk of losing its leadership position across a wide variety of sectors that the crypto and the blockchain are influencing – from international payments and financial infrastructure, to control of the next generation of the internet, to implementation of sanctions, to the increasingly challenged role of the U.S. dollar.”