Circle USDC hires ex-regulator as Chief Legal Officer in regulatory push.

The US-based company Circle, which is behind the stablecoin USDC, has appointed Heath Tarbert, the former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as its new Chief Legal Officer. This move is aimed at achieving more regulatory clarity in the US.

In a press release, Circle stated that Heath Tarbert will help them build a bridge between traditional finance (TradFi) and web3. His regulatory experience will also help push for the adoption of USDC across the globe.

“The opportunity to welcome Heath’s expertise and leadership to our executive team is an extraordinary step in Circle’s growth as a global company,” said Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire.

Tarbert, who will officially join Circle in July, previously served as the chief legal officer for the TradFi market-making giant Citadel Securities.

According to Tarbert’s LinkedIn profile, he has also worked in various branches of the US government, including the CFTC, the Treasury Department, Justice Department, Supreme Court, Senate Banking Committee, and the White House.

Circle highlighted Tarbert’s experience in its press release, stating that he “brings decades of experience from all three branches of U.S. government, international leadership posts, and private sector firms to Circle.”

Circle CEO on cover of Forbes

The announcement of Tarbert joining Circle comes as Jeremy Allaire appeared on the front page of Forbes Magazine, making the case for more and better regulation of the crypto sector.

Allaire argued in the piece that a new and comprehensive bill on stablecoins will not be a threat to existing ones, who will instead join in and become part of the new digital economy.

“With a bill like this we’ll end up doing more business with banks than we currently do,” Allaire told Forbes, while adding:

“The banks can’t get involved in this because they’re not authorized, there’s no clear path, and they can’t hold stablecoins on their balance sheets because there’s no way for them to do that under the current rules. So this will actually increase bank adoption of USDC.”