Former SEC Chair Jay Clayton Joins $2 Billion Crypto Custodian as Advisor

2021-09-03 23:50:58 Primitive Reading

In his second crypto-focused endeavor in the private sector, Former SEC chairman Jay Clayton will be joining a $2 billion crypto-custodian based in Israel, known as “Fireblocks.”

Why Clayton Joined Fireblocks

Fireblocks was launched in 2019 and has seen impressive growth since, having already acted as custodian for over $1 trillion in assets and scaled from 100 to 500 institutional clients in the crypto and traditional finance industries within only months.

Clayton’s job at Fireblocks will be to guide the company through the global regulatory landscape and to help them refine its position on securities. Fireblocks manages over 700 digital assets, and while Bitcoin has long been cleared as not being a security, the remainder of the crypto-industry is still yet to receive approval from the SEC.

Clayton believes both he and Fireblocks are willing to obey any future decisions by the commission.

“I know that [Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov] and his colleagues are committed to regulatory compliance… So to the extent that the SEC determines that certain digital assets that are trading on platforms are in fact securities and should be regulated accordingly, I certainly understand that.”

Former SEC Chairman Turned Crypto Bull?

While having taken a cautious approach while serving as SEC chairman, Clayton now seems supportive of the industry and optimistic of its future prospects.

“I’m very bullish on the ability of blockchain and other technologies to eliminate frictions in the system,” Clayton told Forbes. You will end up with better and more secure transfer and custody as we integrate blockchain technology into our financial ecosystem.”

Since venturing into the private sector, Fireblocks would mark Clayton’s second crypto-focused endeavor– the first being his time on the Board of directors at One River Asset Management.

Just last month, he released an opinion piece alongside the former secretary of the treasury Brent McIntosh, arguing that the US is more than capable of regulating the crypto-industry by just properly applying previously established rules, rather than making new ones that could threaten innovation in the space.

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