Marcus Hughes

Marcus Hughes is an experienced financial services and cryptocurrency executive with a background in legal, compliance, and risk management roles. He currently serves as the Chief Risk Officer at BitMEX, one of the world's leading cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges.Prior to joining BitMEX, Hughes held several key positions at Coinbase, including Managing Director of Europe and General Counsel for international operations. In these roles, he led in building and scaling Coinbase's business outside the US, establishing regulatory relationships globally, and integrating crypto into the traditional financial system.Before entering the crypto industry, Hughes spent nearly a decade at Morgan Stanley as an Executive Director in the Legal and Compliance Division, focusing on electronic trading across equities and fixed income.As CRO of BitMEX, Hughes is responsible for the exchange's regulatory affairs, risk, legal, and compliance functions, reporting directly to the CEO. He is guiding BitMEX's legal strategy, engaging with regulators worldwide, and building out the company's risk and compliance programs as it expands into new markets and products.Hughes believes the cryptocurrency industry needs to recalibrate and demonstrate the utility of blockchain technology to put recent controversies behind it. He sees world-class risk management, compliance, and regulatory affairs as key enablers for the next phase of growth for crypto firms