The Crypto “Traitors” List
We in America, the land of self-reinvention, are long acquainted with the revolving doors between our government and its regulatory/policy remits and the “private” sector. I put “private” in quotes, since there are whole executive suites and partnerships that look like former cabinets or senate or house committees. All-to-often we see our “public servants” exit the “public” sector and join the “private” sector they used to oversee. And, worse, openly supply the “private” sector the means to undermine or circumvent exactly the kinds of things they oversaw or even prosecuted.
This is a list of people at a single firm who (most of them) once well-understood the risks and problematics of cryptocurrencies, but as so often happens in the good ole USA, prestige and a government job is not enough. Doing good while doing well is not enough. Doing good in the USA is only in the end doing well. And that means in these cases REALLY WELL.
Katie Haun: Created the first federal cryptocurrency task force and was a prosecutor at the U.S. Justice department involved in everything from national security to environment issues. Her last remit involved DarkNet, Cryptocurrencies, AML/BSA. In short, she is a parade example of the need for revolving door restrictions. She goes to one of the most powerful VCs, AndreesenHorowitz to….OVERSEE investments in the sectors she once investigated.
Bill Hinman: A former director of the division of corporation finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission. In a speech in 2018 he declared that ether transactions are not “securities transactions”. He comes from the Silicon Valley office Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. At least he has the “virtue” of having come from the swamp as a Trump Administration appointee. And now onto (guess who?) AndreesenHorowitz to advise on “valuable legal and regulatory” issues.
Brent McIntosh: Former Staffer to Bush II and Treasury General Counsel. This is another ex-Trump swamp member who, at least, has been consistent having first entered Public “Service” under G.W. Bush. The fun thing to know: he worked under Mnuchin to implement a strict reporting rule related to crypto-currencies and money services businesses.
Tomicah Tilleman: Global policy adviser to Joe Biden, speech writer for Hillary, and all-around good guy. Which goes to show that anyone can change for enough money.
Information sources:
https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/109661/andreessen-horowitz-new-crypto-vc-hires
https://a16z.com/crypto/#vertical-landing-staff
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/26/business/dealbook/katie-haun-crypto.html
