Paul Grewal is leaving Coinbase. The SEC war is officially over.
Coinbase's top lawyer built the defense against the SEC and is now stepping down. His successors were already in the building.
CryptoVibe Desk · coinbase · regulation · sec
- →Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal is leaving after six years, per CoinDesk, with Molly Abraham stepping up to general counsel and Ryan Van Grack moving to a new vice chairman role.
- →Grewal's exit marks a natural endpoint: the SEC case that defined his tenure was dropped after Trump retook office, and Coinbase is rebuilding its legal bench for a post-war environment.
- →Watch whether Coinbase's OCC trust charter application receives a formal response within six months of the new legal team taking over.
- CLO → Chief Legal Officer, the top lawyer at a company responsible for managing regulatory battles and legal risk.
- OCC → Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a US federal regulator that can grant national banking licenses, including to crypto companies.
Paul Grewal is leaving Coinbase after six years, per CoinDesk. He built the exchange's legal war footing. The war is officially over.
The SEC sued Coinbase in 2023 under then-Chair Gary Gensler. The allegations: that Coinbase operated as an unregistered broker, clearinghouse, and exchange. The suit was dropped after President Trump retook office.
Two changes follow. Molly Abraham, Coinbase's VP of Legal since March 2021, takes over as general counsel. Ryan Van Grack moves to vice chairman in a broader, more public-facing role. He ran Coinbase's litigation work and served as general counsel at Citadel Securities before joining Coinbase.
Grewal isn't fully out. He's joining an undisclosed startup but stays on as an adviser, including on Coinbase's OCC trust charter work.
Abraham and Van Grack represent the next phase: less courtroom, more institutional. If you're watching Coinbase's regulatory positioning, the OCC trust charter is the number to watch now.
Coinbase's decision to leave Grewal's new employer unnamed while he advises on the OCC trust charter is a conflict waiting to happen.
Whether Coinbase's OCC trust charter application receives a formal response within six months of the new legal leadership taking over.
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