Former US Senator Maxwell Baucus joins Binance as federal regulators eye cryptocurrency controls

The official title of Maxwell Baucus will be government relations adviser.

“His experience at the highest levels of government and intimate understanding of global regulation brings exceptional value to Binance and enhances our already strong compliance and policy team,” remarked Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

CoinDesk notes that Baucus served as Ambassador to China under the Obama Administration from 2014 to 2017. His roughly 40 years of congressional experience comes the most handy when it pertains to the Committee on Finance. Baucus having once served as the chair means he’s an expert on trade agreement dilemmas that most people who saw The Phantom Menace thought was boring.

Luckily for cryptocurrency advocates Baucus is a big believer in them being the way of the future. He expressed some excitement that his resume as a bureaucrat can actually be put to some use.

But seriously when it comes to regulatory confusion: Binance had to threaten US users from their original platform and force them over to Binance US instead, because of international laws at play.

Late last year Forbes reported on leaked internal documents demonstrating how Binance tried circumventing regulators in the United States. Binance issued a strong denial to CoinDesk when asked, but it goes to show that having Maxwell Baucus on board is a good step forward for the company’s future.