BitGo Hires Former NY BitLicense Deputy as Chief Operating Officer

Cryptocurrency custodian BitGo has hired New York state’s former BitLicense compliance chief to oversee its multibillion-dollar trust companies.

BitGo’s new chief operating officer, Cassie Lentchner, led the compliance division at the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) from 2016 to 2019. There, she built a supervisory regime for the agency’s nascent crypto-business license, the BitLicense.

Lentchner was most recently senior counsel for cybersecurity at the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. She was a director for government and compliance affairs at Morgan Stanley and UBS prior to her NYDFS stint.

Lentchner will be COO of both BitGo Trust Co. and BitGo New York Trust. There is no other COO at the company, a spokesperson said.

The hire comes as BitGo prepares for its $1.2 billion merger with Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital to become a full-service crypto shop. For its part, BitGo, which claims $40 billion in custodied crypto, secured a trust charter from New York state in March, generating more potential business opportunities as institutional players eye the field.

Lentchner said Galaxy’s network of trading, lending, investment banking and mining clients give BitGo’s custody business a “fabulous opportunity.”

“Trust is going to get a whole bunch of great new clients and customers,” Lentchner said.