Coinbase's CCO will exit the firm after a successful two-year stint

The blog post came after employees urged the company to publicly back causes like Black Lives Matter. Armstrong's response—declaring Coinbase apolitical—led about 60 employees, roughly 5 percent of staff, to quit.

Horowitz joined Coinbase in mid-2018 as the company's first Chief Compliance Officer, a position he held for two years. Before Coinbase, he worked in compliance at Pershing, a BNY Mellon brokerage subsidiary, and earlier at Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Lehman Brothers.

Horowitz built Coinbase's anti-money laundering guidelines and steered the company toward Financial Action Task Force compliance. He also helped secure JPMorgan as a banking partner for the exchange.

"Since joining the company in mid-2018, Jeff played an active role in helping to shape crypto and AML regulation with FATF, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Department of Treasury and regulators around the globe," Coinbase said. "We're grateful for his service and wish him the best in the future. While we conduct a search for a new CCO, our Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, will take over day-to-day responsibility for our compliance programs, with support from our compliance leads."