Coin Center Announces Leadership Changes

According to Blockworks, crypto think tank Coin Center is undergoing significant changes in its senior leadership. Executive Director Jerry Brito and Senior Policy Counsel Robin Weisman will step down from their roles at the end of the year. Both Brito and Weisman have been with Coin Center since its inception in 2014 and will continue to serve on the board of directors. Peter Van Valkenburgh, currently the Director of Research, will assume the role of Executive Director starting January 1. Landon Zinda, who is currently Policy Counsel, will become the Policy Director. Brito expressed pride in the accomplishments of Coin Center over the past decade. He noted that when Coin Center started in 2014, there was uncertainty about whether governments would allow Bitcoin to flourish. Despite the technical resilience of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, there were significant short-term challenges and potential harms that needed to be addressed. The leadership changes come shortly after Coin Center won an appeal to re-open its 2022 lawsuit against the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service. The lawsuit challenges an amendment to the US tax code that includes digital assets in the definition of cash, requiring reporting of transactions exceeding $10,000. Initially dismissed, the appeals court found in August that some of Coin Center’s arguments have legal merit. Coin Center has also been active in other legal battles, including filing amicus briefs in support of Tornado Cash and its founder in a lawsuit against the US government. This followed Coin Center’s own lawsuit against the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control after the US sanctioned Tornado Cash. The court ruled in favor of the US government in 2023, allowing the agency to add Tornado Cash to its list of sanctioned entities. Weisman expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to build Coin Center in a post on X, reflecting on her tenure at the organization.