Crypto firm Flowdesk hires former NYSE counsel as it looks to build US

A little-known digital asset trading firm is seeking to navigate the vast and murky waters of U.S. crypto regulation with the appointment of a legal veteran as its new compliance chief, FOX Business has learned.

Flowdesk, a four-year-old French startup and liquidity provider for some of Wall Street’s crypto ETFs, has added seasoned securities lawyer James Morgan to its C-suite, in a move to position the firm as a major institutional player in the U.S. crypto market.

“The U.S. is a strategically important market,” Flowdesk CEO Guilhem Chaumont told FOX Business. “Developing a solid regulatory approach is a major piece of the puzzle. Adding someone of James’ caliber, with his nearly 10 years of regulatory crypto experience, Flowdesk will be well prepared to succeed and grow its business in the U.S.”

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Since opening its U.S. office a year ago, Flowdesk has flown largely under the radar. However, it briefly made headlines in January for a successful Series B funding round that included backers like crypto payments company Ripple. That same month, Flowdesk quietly agreed to act as a liquidity provider for crypto asset manager Grayscale when it launched one of the 11 spot bitcoin ETFs alongside Wall Street titans BlackRock and Fidelity. It’s doing the same thing for Grayscale’s ethereum ETF, which began trading on Tuesday.

The appointment of Morgan, whose 20-year legal career spans both crypto and traditional finance, comes as the U.S. crypto industry could be on the brink of a new regulatory frontier with the upcoming presidential election.

It also follows a trend of crypto firms adding “TradFi” (traditional finance) veterans to their executive ranks, as the still-nascent industry pursues mainstream adoption and legitimacy. Flowdesk appointed TradFi-turned-crypto veteran Reed Werbitt as its U.S. CEO in September.

Attorneys like Morgan who bring niche expertise in both digital and traditional securities law, are in high demand as U.S. regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission are trying to bring crypto under its purview.

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“I’m excited to be joining the team at Flowdesk at such a pivotal time for crypto,” Morgan told FOX Business in an exclusive interview. “How this next administration approaches regulation will set the tone for years to come.”

Over the last three years, President Biden’s SEC chief Gary Gensler has waged a sweeping regulatory crackdown on the $2 trillion crypto industry, bringing enforcement actions against some of its biggest players. Gensler has said the crypto industry is rife with bad actors who are violating securities laws by refusing to come in and register with the commission. The crypto industry says it’s…