The former acting general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security was named on Thursday as the chief legal officer of the global crypto finance company Circle.

Gus Coldebella, who most recently worked at Fish & Richardson as a principal, will lead the company's law department and also will be responsible for all legal, compliance, regulatory and government affairs for Boston-based Circle, which is backed by Goldman Sachs.

Coldebella, who is Circle's first CLO, was not immediately available for comment. His first day on the job was Wednesday, according to a company spokesperson.

In a blog post announcing the hire, co-founders Sean Neville and Jeremy Allaire said that Coldebella's experience is welcome during the company's time of growth.

“Gus is widely respected by his former colleagues as a hands-on, practical and entrepreneurial leader. He brings a rare combination of keen intelligence, intense integrity, unflappable composure and a genuine and enjoyable disposition,” the co-founders wrote.

They said his experience will be “critical” in working with legislators to “promote smart legal frameworks that encourage the growth of the Internet of Value.”

Coldebella was hired by the Department of Homeland Security in 2005 as deputy general counsel. In 2007, he was nominated by President George W. Bush to be the acting general counsel of the department, a role he held until 2009. He oversaw more than 1,700 lawyers in that role and dealt with numerous complex and high-risk legal situations.

He'll lead a team at Circle that includes some other government vets, like head regulatory counsel and chief compliance officer Robert Bench, who is a former high-ranking official at the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and senior regulatory counsel Carla Carriveau, a veteran of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

Coldebella, a Cornell Law graduate, worked at Fish & Richardson from 2015 up until last month. There he helped companies deal with crisis management and worked to investigate cybersecurity incidents and advised companies on how to mitigate the risk of an attack. He has also worked as a partner at Goodwin Proctor.

The new top Circle lawyer also serves in an advisory capacity on the board of directors of two technology companies: Inky and Blueforce Development Corp.