Palo Alto-based crypto VC firm Electric Capital has named former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Jay Clayton as an adviser.
This is the second crypto firm Clayton has signed on to advise; he joined New York-based Fireblocks last week.
Clayton chaired the SEC from 2017-2020, a period during which the agency took a fairly hands off approach to crypto regulation. He was appointed by then-President Donald Trump.
Since his SEC tenure ended, Clayton has been a public advocate for cryptocurrency in the media.
The current SEC, however, has taken a harder tack on the industry, most notably by launching an investigation into the country's top crypto exchange, Coinbase, for potentially trading in unregistered securities.
The question as to whether certain cryptocurrency tokens are securities and should be regulated as such has weighted heavily on the crypto world. Even VCs have to worry as some investments they make into companies are done through token sales, putting them at risk for violating securities regulations.
Electric Capital also named as advisers Keven Warsh, who previously served on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Pratiti Raychoudhury, vice president and research head at Meta.
"Looking forward one of the biggest problems going forward is regulations, what are the best ways to navigate them and founders want to stay compliant," said Maria Shen, partner at Electric Capital. "Having Jay, having Kevin, we can give founders guidance on what approaches make sense for dealing with these issues.
In March, the VC firm raised $1 billion for two funds focused on crypto and web3 investments.
