Mary Beth
Buchanan
Mary Beth Buchanan is the Executive Vice President Americas and Global Chief Legal Officer at Merkle Science, where she leads the company’s expansion into the Americas and directs the company’s global legal, regulatory and government affairs efforts. Mary Beth brings over three decades of deep expertise at the intersection of federal law enforcement, global interagency cooperation, corporate compliance, digital assets, and emerging regulatory frameworks. Prior to joining Merkle Science, Mary Beth was the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at Menai Financial Group, the Global Chief Legal Officer at Bitstamp and the General Counsel at Kraken.
Mary Beth became active in the digital currency space in late 2013 while a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. As the leader of BCLP’s Digital Currency Team, she saw first-hand both the key role that clear regulations can play in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as the difficulties faced by digital asset startups in meeting their new compliance mandates. At Merkle Science, Mary Beth will lead education efforts with regulators on the potential of blockchain and cryptocurrency technology, while also working with crypto asset businesses to navigate rapidly developing regulatory frameworks.
Mary Beth also served for eight years as the Presidentially appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. She was the only woman in Pennsylvania’s history to be presidentially appointed to this position. She spent her early career as an Assistant United States Attorney, with a focus on financial crimes, often working in parallel with the SEC, CFTC, IRS, and state regulators. During her time with the United States Department of Justice, she also worked with global regulators on cross-border issues such as child exploitation, human trafficking, and the prevention of domestic and international terrorism. In addition, Mary Beth served as the United Nations’ Ethics and Reputational Risk Officer, leading the United Nations’ first ethics and reputational risk assessment for UN Peacekeeping and Special Political Operations. In this role, Mary Beth met with UN Peacekeeping and Special Political Mission personnel, in ten countries around the globe, to complete an analysis of the most significant ethics and reputational risks facing the United Nations.
Mary Beth holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and a Bachelor of Science from the California University of Pennsylvania.