Coinbase Adds OpenAI Exec and Former US Solicitor General to Its Board

By Ryan S. Gladwin

Coinbase, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, has added three members to its board of directors—including an OpenAI executive and a former U.S. Solicitor General.

OpenAI's Chris Lehane, former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, and Aon Chief Financial Officer Christa Davies have all joined the Coinbase board of directors to provide their own unique expertise and knowledge to the company.

Lehane, who was formerly an aide to President Bill Clinton, is joining the board to provide strategic counsel to Coinbase’s leadership, a press release said. Meanwhile, Clement is joining Coinbase’s Audit & Compliance Committee to help "push back against the SEC's overreach and fight for clear rules of the road for digital assets."

This comes amid an ongoing legal battle between Coinbase and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Recently Coinbase, alongside other industry leaders, brought forward a case claiming that the SEC’s crypto overreach is unlawful.

More recently, Coinbase was hit with a $4.5 million fine in the UK for serving “high-risk customers.” 

The third new board member is Davies, a chief financial officer for consulting firm Aon and board member for payment service Stripe and management company Workday. Also joining the Audit & Compliance Committee, Davies will focus on Coinbase’s “financial and operational excellence on a global scale.”

This move is influenced by a report that showed that 9 in 10 Americans across the political spectrum believe that the financial system needs an update. Therefore, Coinbase explained, the three new board members have different political philosophies. 

“In the last 6 months alone we've seen seismic shifts in the administrative crackdown on crypto, historic bipartisan legislation advance through Congress, and crypto emerge as a defining issue on candidate and party platforms throughout the country,” the release said.

In April Kathryn Haun, formerly of Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto division a16z, stepped down from the Coinbase board. After seven years of service, Haun left to focus more on her own crypto company, Haun Ventures.

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