Tiffani McCoy is a groundbreaker — the first African-American woman to serve as general counsel at a digital currency marketplace.

McCoy has joined San Francisco-based digital currency marketplace HBUS, a blockchain asset solutions provider, after working as assistant general counsel at Intuit.

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Formerly the assistant general counsel at Intuit, McCoy’s tech career spans 20 years, including working at tech giants Google and Yahoo. During this time, McCoy gained experience in fintech and money movement, product development, regulatory compliance, government affairs, data privacy and protection, FCRA, consumer protection, marketing, and legal operations.

“Blockchain and digital currency offer some of the most innovative technological and financial opportunities for global evolution,” McCoy said in a press statement. “In order for that to happen and for more people to benefit from this wave of innovation, it is critical for us to diversify the voices and participants in this industry. I am excited to join the HBUS team and be a leading voice in initiatives to drive conscious leadership and increased diversity.”

Frank Fu, CEO of HBUS, said McCoy’s experience defining complex legal and regulatory guidelines helped scale some of the largest technology companies in Silicon Valley. “Her insight and experience with new and innovative technologies will be a major asset for HBUS as we gear up to become one of the top digital currency marketplaces in the U.S.”

A graduate of USC Gould School of Law, McCoy has an MA from the University of Oklahoma in organizational and small group communication. She began her education at Ithaca College where she obtained a BS in TV and radio.

McCoy took time to talk to Moguldom about her new role.

Moguldom: What made you want to join HBUS?

Tiffani McCoy: HBUS offered the opportunity to join a revolutionary industry with a company committed to navigating regulatory uncertainty with a focus on compliance and doing the right thing for customers. I thrive on learning and solving complex challenges to deliver innovative solutions, so HBUS was a good fit for me.

Moguldom: How will your role differ from your previous role at Intuit?

Tiffani McCoy: Each new career opportunity affords me a chance to strengthen my professional foundation and evolve as I build new skills. At Intuit, I focused on guiding legal and business strategy for product operations. I helped teams navigate complex business-regulatory landscapes as we released financial technologies and services on a global scale. My new role expands my responsibilities beyond product operations, to business and legal strategy for all company operations, including corporate development, sales, marketing, finance, corporate governance, government affairs, compliance, and business policy.

Moguldom: How do you feel blockchain and digital currency are changing the way we do business?

Tiffani McCoy: Well-designed and well-used, these technologies have the ability to build trust and security while increasing speed and efficiency. Industries are still exploring these technologies. Right now, the most critical impact these technologies have is building excitement for how our businesses might evolve. The technologies have changed how we think, and innovation starts with expanding our ideas of what’s possible.

Moguldom: You initially studied TV and radio. What prompted the career switch?

Tiffani McCoy: My current path doesn’t feel like a switch. Technology has been a through-line of my career, and to me television is simply an entertainment technology. My earliest legal roles started in digital music, an intersection between technology and entertainment, as well as entertainment and education software.

Moguldom: What attracted you to the tech sector?

Tiffani McCoy: Tech attracts me because of its ability to revolutionize the ways we live. Technology quickly transforms imagination into new and better realities. From entertainment to our homes to our finances — there’s no part of our lives or culture that hasn’t been touched by technology, and it’s exciting to be part of an industry that constantly evolves and creates and transforms.

Moguldom: What do you enjoy about the tech sector?

Tiffani McCoy: The pace and creativity. Change fascinates me, and technology transforms on a global scale at an ever-increasing pace.

Moguldom: You are the first African-American woman to step into the general counsel role at a digital currency marketplace. What does this mean to you?

Tiffani McCoy: It’s exciting. From a personal achievement standpoint, I’m grateful for the opportunity to grow and lead. As an African-American woman, I hope it means more diversity is possible and that culturally and globally more people are starting to recognize that people with skill and drive come in different packages and contribute valuable voices to conversations about business, leadership, and innovation.

Moguldom: Do you feel the tech sector is getting more diverse?

Tiffani McCoy: It’s no secret that tech struggles to improve diversity and inclusion. People want to do the right things, because we know diversity enriches and strengthens perspective and the ability to innovate and engage in our increasingly connected global environment. Yet, we struggle with what doing the right thing looks like. The challenges are widely known — smaller talent pools due to lack of education and professional opportunities, difficulty keeping multicultural talent, and unconscious bias. These factors are still all too prevalent. So, the tech industry has work to do in finding, educating, and supporting new and more diverse talent pools, while also activating our leaders to model inclusive conversation and valuing diverse opinions.