Binance appoints Eleonor Hughes as chief legal officer

Eleonor Hughes has been appointed chief legal officer of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, according to a press release.

Previously she led Binance’s legal team for the APAC and MENA regions. In this role, Hughes managed a team of lawyers specialising in regulatory matters, mergers and acquisitions, commercial law, and litigation.

In this role, she played a key part in securing platform licences in several jurisdictions, including Bahrain, Dubai and New Zealand.

She has 15 years of experience at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where Hughes focused on litigation and contentious matters.

As chief legal officer she will lead a team of 85 lawyers. Her responsibilities will include liaising with the FATF to uphold Binance’s commitments to responsible industry growth.

“Eleonor has been with the company for almost two years. In that time she has quickly become a trusted adviser to me and Binance on legal matters. … I am confident that under her leadership the legal team will continue to successfully fulfil the mission of protecting users and managing risk,” said Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao.

Earlier, the platform’s head described the departure of Patrick Hillmann, the Chief Strategy Officer, as ‘normal turnover.’ Zhao denied Fortune’s report that a similar move had been made by several other senior executives.

In July, it was reported that Binance was seeking new staff in Europe amid regulatory troubles.