Coinbase Legal Chief Paul Grewal Steps Down

Paul Grewal, the Coinbase chief legal officer who steered the exchange through its landmark courtroom fight with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, is stepping down after six years, ending a tenure that helped shape crypto’s legal and political battles in Washington.

Grewal will leave the chief legal officer and secretary roles effective July 31, Coinbase disclosed in a securities filing, after notifying the company on July 8. Molly Abraham, a vice president of legal, will step up as general counsel and secretary. Grewal will stay on as an adviser through the end of October and, Reuters reported, remain on the board of Coinbase’s National Trust Company.

Grewal announced the move himself on X. He pointed to “fighting the SEC and winning” as one milestone of his tenure, then signed off: “now is my time for new adventures,” he wrote on X.

His time at Coinbase was defined by that fight. The SEC sued the company in 2023, alleging it had broken the agency’s rules by letting users trade crypto tokens that should have been registered as securities — a case Reuters said legal experts viewed as existential for Coinbase and the broader industry. The agency dropped the case last year under President Donald Trump, a decision Reuters called “a massive win for Grewal, Coinbase and the industry.”

Grewal was also a central figure in crypto’s Washington lobbying, most recently in deliberations over the Clarity Act, the bill that would set federal rules for digital assets and that advanced out of a key Senate committee in May. Coinbase is separately naming Ryan VanGrack, another vice president of legal, as its first vice chair and head of corporate affairs, a role focused on the company’s relationships with governments and policymakers as it pushes to expand beyond crypto into stock trading, prediction markets and AI-driven investing tools.

Abraham, a longtime member of Coinbase’s legal team, cast the handoff as a turn toward growth. The next chapter, she said in an interview, “is all about building our products”, crediting Grewal with clearing the path.

Related Listen: Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer on Why He Believes the Clarity Act Will Pass

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