From Coinbase to OpenAI: When lobbyist starts escaping encryption
Original by Ada, Deep tide TechFlow
In the early hours of April 14th, CoinDesk posted a personnel story in an unpopular position。
Tom Duff Gordon, Vice-President of International Policy, Coinbase, left office and went to OpenAI to serve as EMEA Policy Manager。
In a hot search of the Twitter encryption ring, the news has remained for less than half a day. It's quieter than the same day when the XRP's big family threw more than $100 million into Coinbase's news。
But quiet news is sometimes really worth reading。
Because it presupposes that a group of people starts moving。
Why did you leave
Put Gordon's résumé on the table, it's much bigger than CoinDesk's hundreds of words。
He spent eight and a half years in Swiss. Then spent four years in Coinbase and recently jumped to OpenAI. From traditional finance to encryption, then AI. Every jump, it's on the new turn of the industry curve。
Gordon entered Coinbase in around 2021, when the MiCA started drafting in Brussels, and the British FCA's encryption asset registration system was just on its way, and how Europe regulated "digital assets" was a white paper. Coinbase needs someone who knows the rules of the investment and who can drink tea in London's Financial City。
Gordon is the right person. He's been dealing with regulators in Swiss and client habits, mouths and rhythms are consistent。
And leaving Coinbase in April 2026 to join OpenAI, this point is not random。
The EU AI Act has just landed, the first cases of punishment have yet to come out, and the local implementation rules of each country are still in play. Although the former British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and ex-Chancellor George Osborne had long ceased to be political figures, their phones were still useful, and those who used them were changing paths。
Gordon why go this time because Coinbase's policy war is over。
In 2023, the SEC sued Coinbase for running an unregistered stock exchange, in 2024, the United States Court of the Third Circuit heard an appeal, on 21 January 2025, the new SEC established a encryption working group, and on 27 February 2025, the SEC withdrew its complaint。
It took two years, from the harshest of regulatory rivals to handshakes。
Chief Justice Paul Grewal wrote in January 2026 in a company blog to the effect that 2025 was the "Stepstone Year" of Coinbase’s Market Business. In other words, the main battleground for policy war is no longer in the United States。
Gordon's European front is also closing. The MiCA came into effect in stages at the end of 2024, and the year 2025 was the full implementation period for the localization of the major exchanges. This is the work of the compliance lawyer and the localization team and is not the home for policy lobby experts at the vice-president level。
The value of a policy lobby is highest in the regulatory vacuum but falls sharply in the regulatory fall。
Gordon is not alone. The Coinbase policy and legal line has been followed by departures over the past two years. As early as 20% of the 20% of the layoffs in 2023, the legal compliance line was cut off by at least 20 people. These two years have been taken at a higher level, and most of them have not been laid off and have been taken on their own initiative。
the reason for taking the initiative is not a secret in the circle because the alpha proceeds have disappeared。
IN THE REGULATORY VACUUM BETWEEN 2021 AND 2024, A POLICY EXPERT WHO UNDERSTANDS ENCRYPTION IS EQUAL TO A PERSON WHO CAN WRITE A MEMORANDUM TO AN EXCHANGE, VC, DISTRIBUTOR, PROJECTER AT THE SAME TIME. "I TALKED TO THE FCA YESTERDAY" IN THE MAIL, SO I COULD GET ANOTHER ROUND OF FINANCING OR A PARTNERSHIP。
BUT TODAY IT IS NO LONGER WORTH IT. THE FCA POSITION IS THAT PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, WEEKLY PRESS MEETINGS ARE HELD BY EU REGULATORS, AND THE LACK OF ENCRYPTED COMPLIANCE INFORMATION HAS BEEN FLATTENED。
AND AI OVER THERE, THE INFORMATION GAP IS AT ITS PEAK。
Organisation
In October 2024, OpenAI announced new offices in New York, Seattle, Paris, Brussels and Singapore. On April 13, 2026, the day before Gordon's departure, OpenAI announced the further expansion of the London branch, positioning London as one of the most important hubs outside the United States。
The two stories go together, the script becomes clear。
On its current recruitment page, the EEMEA Global Affairs Manager has been in office for more than six months, requiring "more than 15 years of experience in government, international affairs, science and technology policy" and clearly stating that "credibility and relationships with EU institutions and regulators, and governments" should be established。
Gordon's resume perfects this JD。
According to the Financial Times earlier, OpenAI plans to expand the number of employees from 4,500 to 8000, an average of 12 persons per day by the end of 2026. Policy and government affairs are one of the priority directions. OpenAI officially launched the OpenAI for Europe project in January of this year to include education, health care, cybersecurity, disaster response。
The meaning of this sentence is that what OpenAI is going to do in Europe is not just sell the corporate version of ChatGPT, but go into every area where legislation might cut the table。
Coinbase did the same thing in Europe in 2021。
It's just that it's encrypted, and now it's universal artificial intelligence。
Gordon 's Value
There's a saying in the encryption ring, "regulated arbitrage." This means taking advantage of regulatory differences in different regions, areas and time points to find gaps in rules and turn arbitrage opportunities into business。
Cheonan was first registered in Malta, FTX chose Bahamas, Tether ran to the British Virgin Islands, etc., and was a regulatory arbitrage at the textbook level。
And behind the regulation of arbitrage there is a hidden work: the lobbyist behind the arbitrage。
They don't do arbitrage, they do arbitrage, and they translate "the gap" into "the narrative of compliance." The practical operation of an exchange is translated into a language acceptable to supervisory officials; the concerns of a regulatory officer are translated into commercial compromises acceptable to companies。
This requires three things: a muscle memory of the decision-making process within the regulator; a technical understanding of the industry; and a human connection。
Gordon, these are the three。
TECHNICAL UNDERSTANDING IS ACTUALLY THE LEAST VALUABLE. ENCRYPTION AND AI DON'T INTERSECT AT THE BOTTOM, BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER. THEY DON'T NEED TO UNDERSTAND TECHNOLOGY. THEY NEED TO KNOW WHICH OFFICIALS ARE SENSITIVE TO WHAT KIND OF ISSUES, WHICH PARLIAMENTARIANS ARE GOING TO CHANGE THIS YEAR, AND WHAT THE PRESIDENT OF WHICH INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION WILL SAY AT A SUMMIT NEXT MONTH。
This knowledge is highly transferable between encryption and AI. The person in charge of drafting the MiCA in the EU is today drafting the AI Act local implementing regulations。
In other words, Gordon left Coinbase to join OpenAI, and there was much less to learn in the middle than ordinary people thought。
And the real value is the hundreds of numbers that don't appear on LinkedIn on his phone。
Coinbase still needs policy talent today. But what it needs is a local compliance manager, an executive role that can rule out the provisions of the MiCA, and a litigator who can handle a second SEC investigation that ends in a lawsuit。
It no longer requires a vice-presidential level, a PR lobby specialist who drinks with the top politicians in Brussels, London, Paris。
It's not about the Coinbase family. Look at the current situation in the encryption industry: Circle fell from $298 at the highest post-market point to $998, Bullish fell from $118 to $38, and Kraken's IPO plan is currently suspended, although it has been submitted confidentially; the market's estimate is lower than the previous round of $20 billion in financing, in terms of private-market prices. After the third trading date after BitGo was listed, the stock price has been fully increased on the first day and the IPO distribution price has fallen。
When the valuation logic of an industry is changed from a narrative premium to a "cash-flow discount", its demand for talent will also change simultaneously。
The narrative premium period in the encryption industry, probably from 2020 to 2025. During these five years, a Vice-President who understands regulation can be both commercial, public relations and financing assets。
However, when the cash flow is depreciated, such positions are replaced by the Comptroller General, the Managing Director and the Compliance Director。
The kind of work that "go to Brussels and get a piece of paper to paint" doesn't really need encryption。
The direction of the tide
Gordon jumps to OpenAI, jumps to a bigger, more messy, more budget, but the red line is less clear。
The EU AI Act has entered its implementation period this year, but the specific interpretation of the provisions of the General Artificial Intelligence Model (GPAI) is still being pursued by countries. There is no specific AI legislation in England, and no one knows if the FCA system of "principle-based regulation" will be used again in the AI field. Several sovereign funds in the Middle East are considering AI industrial policy while smashing the money to build data centres. The issue of data sovereignty in Africa is becoming the next subject of trade negotiations。
This confusion is a risk for regulators, but an opportunity for those who lobby for policy。
OpenAI offers for such persons as Gordon approximately 1.5 to 2 times the Coinbase position, including early equity。
This is not the most valuable part. The most valuable part is, now go in, and OpenAI in the future, if IPO or maintenance of private valuation continues to expand, the RSU that you have in your hands is a lottery in the current valuation。
This lottery ticket was issued at Coinbase in 2021. In 2013, in Google. In 1999 in Yahoo。
At the peak of each technical narrative round, the most rule-telling and story-telling people get in the car first. When the car reached the terminal, they got off and went after the next one。
IN A SENSE, IT IS JUDGED WHETHER AN INDUSTRY IS AT THE PEAK OR AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAIN, WITHOUT REFERENCE TO CURRENCY, TO TVL AND TO THE AMOUNT OF FINANCING. ONE THING IS ENOUGH: THE SMARTEST LOBBYIST IS IN OR OUT。
Gordon went into Coinbase that year, 2021。
Gordon left Coinbase that year, 2026。
In the middle of the five years, that's the life of the encryption cycle。
