OKX’s Global Compliance Chief Left After Six Months

• OKX’s global chief compliance officer, Patrick Donegan, left in January after just six months in post.

• Donegan, whose responsibilities included anti-money laundering, managed a team of 300.

The global chief compliance officer and head of anti-money laundering efforts for OKX, Patrick Donegan, left his role at the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange after just six months in the job, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Donegan managed a team of 300 people around the world, joined OKX in August 2023 and left in January 2024, his profile states. He described himself as a regulatory specialist on AML with “skills in creating policies and procedures, meeting regulatory expectations while promoting business initiatives and establishing strong relationships with regulators.”

Crypto exchanges are coming under pressure to get their houses in order when it comes to things like combating money laundering. Most recently, crypto exchange KuCoin and two of its founders were charged with violating anti-money laundering laws by U.S. federal prosecutors. In November of last year, U.S. authorities settled similar charges against Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume.

Donegan was previously chief compliance officer and senior vice president at the once crypto-friendly Signature Bank, where he has served for almost eight years.

Neither OKX nor Donegan responded to requests for comment.