Tether and Bitfinex announced on Thursday that Stuart Hoegner, Bitfinex's general counsel, has retired and Michael Hilliard will take over legal affairs for the stablecoin issuer and exchange, as MiCA's stricter regulations took effect at the end of last year. According to a statement, Hoegner and Hilliard have jointly led the legal work of the two companies for several years. After the MiCA regulations for the EU cryptocurrency market came into effect on December 30th, changes were made to the leadership of the two companies. MiCA established a stricter regulatory environment for stablecoin issuers within the EU, including reserve and liquidity authorizations. The two companies stated on Thursday that Hoegner has played a key role in "guiding Tether and Bitfinex through complex regulatory environments" so far. According to Hoegner's LinkedIn information, he joined Bitfinex in 2014.