Worldcoin, Uniswap Snag Coinbase Execs

Coinbase is the world's leading listed cryptocurrency exchange and understandably houses some of the industry's sharpest hires.

Indeed, having Coinbase on your CV makes you quite the desirable candidate for pretty much any high-level position in the digital asset sphere, as Worldcoin and Uniswap can attest to.

Elliott Suthers, the former head of corporate communications at Coinbase, has been hired by Worldcoin as the head of comms for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Suthers was hired by Coinbase in 2018 and oversaw its growth as it became a listed company. He also has experience working in government policy in Washington DC.

"No project in the world today has the potential to distinguish humans from AI online while preserving privacy, enable global democratic processes and eventually show a potential path for programs like AI-funded UBI," Suthers said.

"Most crypto projects think about their customer base in the thousands, or maybe in the millions for an exchange or DEX, Worldcoin is thinking about how it can help billions of people globally."

Meanwhile, Uniswap has hired former former Coinbase legal executive Katherine Minarik as its new chief legal officer.

“It is impossible to spend time in crypto and not be inspired by the potential of DeFi to change the world,” Minarik said on X.

“I am humbled to be taking on this new role at Uniswap Labs, continuing another part of the fight for economic inclusion and the future of finance for all of us.”

Minarik spent four years at Coinbase, serving as vice president of legal and deputy general counsel. She will replace former Uniswap Labs CLO Marvin Ammori who plans to transition to a part-time role later this year.

Uniswap's legal hire comes as the firm finds itself under the scrutiny of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In April, Uniswap received a Wells Notice from the SEC. A Wells Notice, which is usually sent ahead of launching a formal lawsuit. Coinbase and BUSD issuer Paxos  are among the increasing list of crypto firms that have received such notices.

In a blog post, Uniswap said the SEC's legal arguments are "weak" and have been "refuted" by courts.

"The SEC’s aggressive theories are an effort to expand its jurisdiction beyond exchanges to communications technology – and beyond securities to all markets," Uniswap stated.