Former Homeland Security lawyer Gus Coldebella has joined Paradigm, a San Francisco-based cryptocurrency investment firm, as general counsel months after leaving blockchain payments company Circle Internet Financial Ltd.
“This opportunity is exciting because fostering crypto technologies, and supporting the founders who create them, is an important mission,” Coldebella said in a Medium post announcing his move.
Coldebella’s move is one of many recent crypto-legal hires as the growing industry demands more legal expertise to navigate new and changing regulations.
Coldebella lauded crypto’s innovative potential in the post and emphasized the importance of navigating “thorny legal and policy questions” around the industry.
“Joining Paradigm offers the chance to continue the work I began at Circle and deploy my experience as a lawyer and former policymaker to assist the fund and its portfolio companies with these complex issues,” Coldebella wrote.
Before joining Circle in 2018, Coldebella worked in private practice for nearly a decade at Fish & Richardson P.C. and Goodwin, according to his LinkedIn profile. Coldebella also served as deputy general counsel and acting general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009.
Paradigm was founded in 2018 by Fred Ehrsam and Matt Huang and currently has 13 employees, according to the company’s LinkedIn page. Ehrsam also co-founded cryptocurrency company Coinbase and still sits on its board of directors.