Canadian digital assets specialist DeFi Technologies has appointed Philippe Lucet as general counsel, replacing Kenny Choi.
Lucet moves across from DeFi Technologies’ exchange traded products (ETPs) subsidiary Valour, where he was also GC. In his new role, he will be responsible for overseeing DeFi Technologies’ legal, corporate governance and regulatory affairs functions.
Toronto-based DeFi Technologies is a fintech company specialising in digital assets, providing ETPs, prime brokerage, digital assets research and quant trading through its subsidiaries Valour, Stillman Digital, Reflexivity Research and Neuronomics.
Johan Wattenström, CEO and chairman of DeFi Technologies, said: “Philippe brings deep global legal leadership across highly regulated and innovation driven industries. His experience spanning corporate governance, regulatory, strategy, innovation and intellectual property, combined with his existing leadership at Valour, positions him well to support our continued growth and execution across markets.”
Lucet joins after just under two years at Valour, where he is based in Zug, Switzerland. Prior to that he was group GC at air transport IT business SITA for just over two years, having also had in-house roles as chief legal officer at Biostarks Laboratories, as GC of R&D and IP at Nestle and as lead legal counsel for brand and e-commerce at Richemont.
He previously worked in private practice at legacy firm Salans (now part of Dentons).
Choi, meanwhile, exits after just under eight years. He originally joined from Canadian law firm Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg. The company thanked him for his contributions and service.
In other in-house fintech hires, in December crypto business MoonPay appointed acting US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chair Caroline Pham as CLO. Also in December, asset tokenisation business Securitize hired Jerome Roche as GC from Paypal, where he was head of legal for digital assets, while in the UK, cloud-based clearing bank ClearBank hired former FCA lawyer Angela Roberts as its group GC.
Back in July last year, US blockchain tech company Marinade Labs hired Zalika Headley as its first GC from digital asset lender BlockFi. And in November 2024, crypto asset manager CoinShares hired former Sidley Austin lawyer Lisa Avellini as group GC from Balyasny Europe Asset Management.
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