Polygon Recruits Top Aave Attorney Rettig for Crypto Policy Role
Polygon Labs, a blockchain company that has been hiring executives despite a tough cryptocurrency market, has appointed digital finance advocate Rebecca Rettig as its first chief policy officer.
Rettig joins Polygon having served as Chief Legal and Policy Officer for Aave Ltd., a decentralized financial lending project, for the past two years. Her new position will require Rettig to meet with policymakers and regulators around the world to advocate for Polygon’s interests.
“Securing mass adoption of any new and paradigm-shifting technology takes time, as does policy adoption,” Rettig said. “I say to skeptics that a blockchain-based internet holds promise and that the opportunities for finding the right policies are endless.”
Polygon’s activities include decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens, stablecoins and games for Web3 – the name for the digital infrastructure behind the next World Wide Web. Polygon, which works with financial services firms like accounting and consulting firm EY, is behind a scaling platform for the Ethereum blockchain.
Her move to Polygon reunites Rettig with Marc Boiron, a colleague from private practice who joined the firm last year as Chief Legal Officer.
Rettig, a trained trial attorney, and Boiron, a corporate attorney, previously worked together at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and FisherBroyles where they focused on representing crypto and blockchain clients.
“He’s one of the brightest legal minds in the Web3 space, and we’ve been discussing political issues for many years,” Rettig said of Boiron. “We’re both really looking forward to getting into the job.”
Rettig will report to Ryan Wyatt, President of Polygon Labs, the development and growth team for the Polygon decentralized protocol. Wyatt said in a statement that Rettig Polygon will help “drive the mass adoption of blockchain-based frameworks.”
Earlier this year, Polygon reorganized its various operations under the Polygon Labs umbrella, according to the company. Polygon itself, by protocol, has no employees, all of whom now work for Polygon Labs, which works with various law firms but whose primary outside counsel is Latham & Watkins, the company said.
In recent months, Polygon has embarked on a hiring spree, including hiring Amazon.com Inc.’s Nicholas Snow as general counsel. Polygon has also selected Alexander Rozman, a former head of financial crime compliance at CLS Bank International, as global head of compliance.
Last year Rettig joined the board of directors of Silvergate Capital Corp. a, a bank caught in the aftermath of the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
