Around the time Binance.US announced former Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks would be leading the crypto exchange, former CEO Catherine Coley effectively dropped off the face of the digital world.
Coley, who had regularly posted updates on Binance.US and her personal life to her Twitter account, has been inactive on the social media platform since April 19. Her job experience on LinkedIn ends with her two years as CEO of Binance.US in June 2021, and her online silence has led at least one news outlet to reach out to San Francisco authorities to determine if she had been reported missing — as of October, the answer was reportedly “no”.
Major figures in crypto also noticed the absence of Coley. Ripple CTO David Schwartz said in July that the former Binance.US CEO had not responded to his messages, but he had not tried to reach her by calling. Sam Fischer, a representative for Binance.US, told Cointelegraph said that the exchange had no information on Coley “beyond the fact that she left Binance.US."
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Naturally, rumors have been floating around Crypto Twitter, speculating that Coley has met an untimely end, is alive and well and vacationing in Puerto Rico, or is forced to be quiet due to some kind of unsorted legal matter related to her departure from Binance.US — none of which Cointelegraph has been able to confirm. One of her last public statements on social media in April was reporting high levels of traffic on Binance.US, but she also addressed attendees of the LA Blockchain Summit in October 2020.
Curious... Has anyone heard from Catherine Coley? We had a conversation last December before she left but nothing since and I have tried. I along with others have expressed concern about what happened to her. She also has listed her 2 yr experience with Ripple. I pray she's okay.
— Jackie P (@JackieP323) September 20, 2021Before her disappearance, Coley was one of the most prominent names in the crypto space. As a young female leader of a major exchange, she made Forbes Magazine’s list of 40 under 40 as an influential entrepreneur in 2020.
Cointelegraph reached out to Catherine Coley, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.