The former chief executive officer at ICE Clear Europe has joined digital asset exchange Coinbase as a strategic advisor.
Finbarr Hutcheson has taken on the part-time as role at Coinbase, according to his LinkedIn profile, after most recently serving as ICE Clear Europe’s chief for just over three years. He departed in December last year.
Coinbase did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
The addition provides the retail-focused platform with some significant financial markets experience through the C-level executive who has led some of the world’s largest derivatives and clearing organisations.
Prior to joining ICE Clear, Hutcheson spent nearly four years as president of the ICE Benchmark Administration and two years as chief executive officer of NYSE’s LIFFE, the global derivatives business of the former NYSE Euronext that is now part of ICE, and as head of its fixed income currencies and commodities (FICC).
He also notably spent 15 years as an executive director at Goldman Sachs.
The news follows Coinbase’s planned launch into Japan with the help of Japanese investment bank MUFG, announced last month, in a bid to create a more globalised offering.
As part of the partnership, MUFG will offer a deposit service for all customers in the region wanting to trade on Coinbase’s platform to accelerate the roll-out.
“Coinbase is committed to increasing the use of crypto in Japan by bringing a best-in-class product offering to Japanese customers,” said Coinbase in a statement last month.
Hutcheson’s is the second recent appointment at Coinbase after it also appointed the former global head of electronic trading at Goldman Sachs and co-founder of Tagomi, Greg Tusar, as VP of institutional products as part of its acquisition of the crypto prime broker co-founded by Tusar.