BlockFi Parts Ways With Head of US Trading

Blockworks exclusive: The executive was the only one cut from the trading team, one source said

article-image

Blockworks exclusive art by Axel Rangel

share

key takeaways

  • The investment firm recently cut 20% of staffers and received an emergency infusion of cash from crypto exchange FTX to bolster its beleaguered balance sheet
  • The layoffs come amid a spate of similar actions by other digital asset-focused companies hit hard by sliding crypto markets

Digital assets-focused investment firm BlockFi has parted ways with its head of US trading amid a broad-based restructuring, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

The move took place during a widespread crypto downturn that, in part, prompted the asset manager to lay off 20% of its employees and take a sizable emergency cash infusion from crypto exchange FTX to stabilize its business. 

Jason Wilkinson oversaw BlockFi’s US trading team and previously spent more than a decade as a senior trader at Two Rivers Trading. Wilkinson declined to comment.

A BlockFi spokesperson declined to comment. Sources were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive business dealings. 

A headhunting source, who requested anonymity for fear of alienating BlockFi, said Wilkinson ought to have “little trouble” landing a new gig — despite a suddenly tough hiring market as a result of firms including CoinBase and Babel Finance cutting staffers — given his deep traditional finance experience. 

Wilkinson was the only departure from the firm’s 12-person trading team, and the trading desk’s global head and head of Asia-Pacific trading remain with the company, one source said. The team is maintaining 24/7 trading, with no interruption to clients, the source added. 

BlockFi last week received a $250 million line of revolving credit from FTX, whose founder Sam Bankman-Fried has gone on a spending spree in both crypto and traditional assets, floating loans to bail out companies deeply underwater from the market downturn. 

While Bankman-Fried has said his motives are altruistic, industry participants have told Blockworks that his efforts put the exchange — plus his venture capital firm, Alameda Ventures — in prime position to snap up stakes in beleaguered companies or acquire them outright. 

The founder, one of the most prominent in digital assets, has said he has no day-to-day involvement in Alameda Ventures.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) represent low-hanging fruit in a massive market ripe for Web3-driven disruption. The global CDN market was valued at ~$28B in 2024, and is projected to surpass $140B by 2034, (18.75% CAGR) underscoring the immense demand for efficient content delivery.

article-image

TAPEDRIVE says it can make Solana data storage 1,400x cheaper

article-image

Immigration changes are papering over a fragile labor market

article-image

BlueYard’s head of crypto research developed FreePay to make fee-free, tap-to-pay crypto payments a reality

article-image

Buzzwords include: succinct universal proofs, zkVM, incrementally verifiable computation, distributed supercomputer and agentic AI

article-image

US dollars might technically be worth less, but it’s still good news

article-image

Apps are doing well, as is casino gaming, says Tom Schmidt of Dragonfly