Bitcoin exchange itBit has continued to beef up its executive team with regulatory and financial talent. It has brought on Daniel Alter, former general counsel at the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), as general counsel and chief compliance officer.
He spent three years in his role at NYDFS, leaving in February. To dispel any suspicion of conflict of interest, he stated that he will initially be keeping a distance from NYDFS. “The New York State Public Officers law requires that I have a two-year recusal before I can appear before the New York Department of Financial Services on behalf of the company,” he said. Rather, contact with the regulator will be handled by “outside counsel or qualified compliance people within the company.”
Former NYDFS superintendent Benjamin Lawsky faced criticism when in June. Some had alleged that Lawsky built for himself a “revolving door” in first creating the BitLicense regulations, which govern how virtual currency businesses operate in New York State, and then leaving to form his own private legal practice. Some suspected that he will advise businesses on how to get licensed according to the rules he created. that he is barred from advising on such matters and will refrain from doing so.
itBit also hired Kim Petry as its CFO. Petry was formerly CFO and vice president of global commercial/corporate card payment at American Express.
The hires come in addition to earlier this year that helped the Bitcoin company to obtain a trust charter, exempting it from the BitLicense regulations. They include former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Sheila Bair, former Financial Accounting Standards Board director Robert Herz, and former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley.
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