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By Ian Allison|Edited by Aoyon Ashraf
May 27, 2025, 8:53 p.m.
- The firm’s global general counsel, Melissa Muehlfeld, left the exchange.
- OKX recently replaced its chief legal officer, Mauricio Beugelmans, and head of compliance, Vanessa Zhang.
- Muehlfeld joined OKcoin in May of 2022 as deputy general counsel and was promoted to global general counsel of OKX in August 2024.
The restructuring of leading legal and compliance roles at cryptocurrency exchange OKX continues with the departure of the firm’s global general counsel, Melissa Muehlfeld.
Muehlfeld joined OKcoin, the U.S. arm of OKX, back in May of 2022 as deputy general counsel. She was promoted to global general counsel in August 2024.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Since OKX paid half a billion dollars to settle charges with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) in February of this year, the exchange has replaced some top legal and compliance staff, including chief legal officer Mauricio Beugelmans, and head of compliance Vanessa Zhang.
OKX appointed the former superintendent and head of the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), Linda Lacewell, as its chief legal officer (CLO) after Beugelmans’ departure.
Lacewell is said to be restructuring the firm’s legal and compliance divisions, according to a source familiar with the situation.
“As a matter of company policy, we do not comment on all people that join and/or depart the company,” an OKX spokesman said via email.
Muehlfeld did not respond to requests for comment.
Ian Allison is a senior reporter at CoinDesk, focused on institutional and enterprise adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Prior to that, he covered fintech for the International Business Times in London and Newsweek online. He won the State Street Data and Innovation journalist of the year award in 2017, and was runner up the following year. He also earned CoinDesk an honourable mention in the 2020 SABEW Best in Business awards. His November 2022 FTX scoop, which brought down the exchange and its boss Sam Bankman-Fried, won a Polk award, Loeb award and New York Press Club award. Ian graduated from the University of Edinburgh. He holds ETH.
