Crypto Hiring: Binance US taps new chief compliance officer

Binance US, an American affiliate of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has hired a new chief compliance officer.

The move to hire Lesley O’Neill comes amid intense regulatory scrutiny in the US by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC sued Binance US in June, alleging that the company engaged in unregistered sales of crypto asset securities, and commingled customer funds. That legal action remains ongoing.

According to LinkedIn, O’Neill previously worked in legal and compliance roles at Prove, last serving as its chief compliance officer. She also held roles at EY, Milbank and Bloomberg, per her profile.

In a statement, Binance US said that O’Neill would lead the firm’s sanctions, anti-money laundering, and know-your-customer initiatives.

“I look forward to earning and maintaining the trust of our customers and regulators by building upon the company’s strong foundation of compliance and deepening its commitment to accountability and transparency,” O’Neill said in a statement.

Last month, Binance and now-former chief executive Changpeng Zhao agreed to a multibillion-dollar settlement with the US Department of Justice. Zhao remains in the US ahead of a sentencing hearing in February.

The SEC continues to pursue its case against Binance, Binance US and Zhao, alleging that the defendants deliberately violated US securities laws.

“We allege that Zhao and the Binance entities not only knew the rules of the road, but they also consciously chose to evade them and put their customers and investors at risk,” Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC’s enforcement division, said in a statement at the time.

Friend.tech looking for smart contract engineer

Meanwhile, Friend.tech, the social finance app that went viral last year, is on the hunt for a smart contract engineer.

The firm, according to a job board hosted by crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, is offering as much as $200,000 in salary for “an experienced smart contract engineer to help us build the next generation of friendtech smart contracts.”

Friend.tech took the crypto world by storm last summer, scoring more than 100,000 users within a month of its launch. The app uses social tokens and a digital “share” system for interacting with influencers and other accounts.

But the app’s interest bubble popped in the weeks and months that followed. DappRadar’s dashboard shows that volumes and transaction counts are well below the last summer’s highs.

Other notable hiring news

The Telos Foundation has hired John Lilic to be its executive director. Lilic is a long-time crypto builder, having been an early employee at ConsenSys and Metamask. “I’m looking forward to applying my extensive experience and insights from my time with the Bitcoin Center NYC, Consensys, Polygon and other successful ventures,” Lilic said in a statement.

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