Last month, Huobi hired former State Street compliance chief Elaine Sun Ye Lin to serve as the global compliance director for the exchange.

Sun served as State Street’s head of compliance for its Chinese branch. She has previous work experience at the Singapore-based OCBC bank.

The new hire came around the same time Huobi reportedly laid off other members of its staff in response to the prolonged crypto bear market. The company said the layoffs were due to desires to “optimize” staff and ensure key markets could have proper support.

Similar activity has taken place at mining giant Bitmain. The company said late last year it had to stay true to its “core mission” and focus on “hiring the best talent.”

Huobi Group HR Director Fu Liting said Sun’s

“expertise in compliance and in traditional financial markets will definitely be an asset to the company as we look to ensure our compliance and work with regulatory bodies.”

Company officials indicated they hope Sun’s experience in working alongside global government bodies will benefit Huobi’s operations.

Experts like CryptoRecruit’s Neil Dundon said the cryptocurrency world has experienced a steady inflow of experienced professionals from the IT and finance sectors.

He noted the trend of bankers moving from traditional financial institutions to the crypto space

“is reassuring as to where the future of this industry is headed.”

In 2018 alone, the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange onboard top executives like Brian Brooks from Fannie Mae, Chris Dodds of Charles Schwab, and Eris Scro from the New York Stock Exchange.

Some characterized Dodds as a particularly big hire for Coinbase because of his status as a Charles Schwab Board of Directors member. Dodds, who joined the board in 2014, serves as the Chairman of the Risk Committee.

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