Binance, the world’s leading crypto and blockchain infrastructure provider, today announced the hiring of Steven McWhirter and Seth Levy, former regulators from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) respectively.
Steven McWhirter joins Binance as the Director of Regulatory Policy, where he will lead the global regulatory policy team and ensure that Binance meets its regulatory obligations to the highest standard. Prior to joining Binance, Steven spent over nine years at the FCA, where he was most recently the Strategy and Engagement Manager in the Data, Technology, and Innovation Division. During his time at the FCA, Steven was a policy subject matter expert and participated in multiple policy working groups focussed on the UK, EU, and other countries, including the FCA’s crypto guidance. He also supported innovation in financial services by managing the Secretariat of the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN), a network of over 75 regulators and observers globally.
Seth Levy joins Binance as the Head of Market Surveillance, where he will oversee efforts to further build and implement a surveillance infrastructure and system that is tailored to address risk associated with trading digital assets worldwide. Seth brings over two decades of experience in security, risk management, and user protection. He spent more than five years at Citadel and Citadel Securities as the Global Head of Surveillance, and 16 years at FINRA. His most recent role at FINRA was as the Senior Director of Trading Analysis within the Market Regulation Department. In this role, Seth led the team responsible for designing and conducting surveillance of the U.S. Equities markets, investigating misconduct, and examining firm’s compliance with rules and regulations.
“In a dynamic and developing regulatory crypto and blockchain environment, Binance continues to attract world-class experts that believe in the importance of providing a safe and secure platform for users,” said Binance CEO CZ (Changpeng Zhao). “Steven and Seth joining our global compliance team is not only a huge boost to Binance, but also the broader crypto and blockchain industry, as we continue to lead the sector by working collaboratively with regulators, policymakers, and industry leaders to grow the ecosystem responsibly and sustainably.”
This announcement is part of ongoing efforts by Binance to grow and strengthen its global compliance leadership and team. Most recently, Binance promoted Chagri Poyraz to Global Head of Sanctions.
“Regulation is regarded as an important and necessary component in the lifecycle of all innovative sectors,” said Steven. “My efforts will support Binance by ensuring that the regulatory global compliance is enhanced in tandem with crypto and blockchain innovation. Leading Binance’s regulatory policy team will allow me to leverage my experience as a former conduct regulator to create a sustainable crypto ecosystem with consumer protection and market integrity at its heart.”
Seth said: “I’m really looking forward to working with the team to extend Binance’s already excellent surveillance capabilities to the next level. Our goal is to ensure that Binance users are protected from any form of nefarious activity or bad actors.”
“We will work to further proactively engage regulators and other market participants to strengthen market integrity, user protection, and enhance public confidence in the crypto market,” added Seth.