Coinbase Adds Trump Campaign Co-Manager LaCivita to Global Advisory Council

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, announced on Wednesday the addition of four members to its global advisory council.

Chris LaCivita, the co-manager of President Donald Trump's election campaign, is joining the council, Coinbase announced.

Also joining are Kyrsten Sinema, the former Democratic senator from Arizona; Bill Dudley, the former president of the New York Fed; and Luis Alberto Moreno, a former president of the Inter-American Development Bank and Colombia's ambassador to the US.

"Our four new members are world-class leaders in their respective fields and we look forward to their contributions as the world enters a new era for crypto," Coinbase's chief policy officer, Faryar Shirzad, said in a statement Wednesday.

Coinbase established its global advisory council in 2023, saying at the time that it would "help navigate the complex and evolving landscape of the crypto industry, and strengthen relationships with strategic stakeholders around the world."

Existing members include former members of Congress Kendrick Meek, Stephanie Murphy, Patrick Toomey, and Tim Ryan.

Antonio Villaraigosa and Keisha Lance, the former mayors of Los Angeles and Atlanta respectively, and Mark Esper, the former US defense secretary, also sit on the council, among others.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently said that Trump's return to the White House was "the dawn of a new day" for crypto when he appeared at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

He said that the Biden administration had overseen a "very hostile environment" where regulators "tried to curtail or kill the industry unlawfully."

"Everyone in crypto was excited when Trump was elected and no one was excited when Biden was elected," Armstrong said, adding that the crypto industry had faced "unprecedented hostility from the regulators and the administration."

"I think the industry is largely Republican at this point. I don't think there's any question about that."

Trump's election victory has seen crypto soar. The president has championed the technology, even launching his own meme coin just before his inauguration.

Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, jumped from below $70,000 at the time of the US election in November to more than $100,000.

Coinbase's addition of LaCivita to its advisory council comes as Trump Media & Technology Group — which counts the president as its largest shareholder — announced on Wednesday that it would expand into fintech and might invest in bitcoin and other tokens.