Crypto Hiring: Crypto Council for Innovation adds Circle and Solana, stocks up on policy hires

Elsewhere, Axie Infinity’s developer gets its first CEO and 1inch DAO lawyers up

share

The Crypto Council for Innovation brought on two new policy-related hires this week while also announcing Circle and the Solana Foundation as new members.

The council is an industry alliance that is involved in the policy realm — from anti-money laundering (AML) rules in Europe to Coinbase’s ongoing feud with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Circle and Solana join an alliance of firms that includes stalwarts like Andreessen Horowitz and Fidelity Digital Assets. 

The Crypto Council for Innovation is based in Washington DC, according to Crunchbase. 

The organization brought on Ryan Eagen as associate director of government affairs and Patrick Kirby as policy counsel. Eagen previously worked in the office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Kirby came from a government relations job at the law firm Dentons. 

Read more: EU comes to provisional agreement to expand AML to crypto 

The policy and government affairs hires come as US crypto advocates score a win with spot bitcoin ETFs gaining SEC approval. It’s also a presidential election year, though crypto-focused GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy recently dropped out of the race. 

Read more: House Republicans offer rare praise to SEC after bitcoin ETF approval 

“As part of @crypto_council, the Foundation looks forward to collaborating on responsible innovation, advocating for sensible Web3 regulations, and advancing blockchain for social good,” the Solana Foundation wrote on X. 

“We are proud to join @crypto_council and share our perspective and commitment to responsible growth of open money,” Circle said

Company behind Axie Infinity taps CFO

Ellen Gormley has been named the first chief financial officer of Sky Mavis, the blockchain game developer behind the popular title Axie Infinity

Gormley has a track record in Web3, most recently serving as chief financial officer of DeFi platform Radix after spending four years at blockchain technology firm Bitfury. 

“My role is to ensure that Sky Mavis has the best financial framework for sustainable growth and leverage my experience to optimize operational efficiency,” Gormley said in a press release reviewed by Blockworks.

Sky Mavis survived a $625 million hack of the Ronin Bridge in 2022. It has continued to develop new games, releasing the card-battling game Apeiron in December. Despite the hack and woes with its tokenomics, Axie Infinity remains popular, seeing the most volume of any blockchain game over the past 30 days, according to DappRadar.

Other notable hiring news


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.jpg

Research

Figure, founded by former SoFi CEO Mike Cagney, has emerged as a leader in onchain RWAs, with ~$17.5B publicly tokenized. The platform’s ecosystem volume is growing ~40% YoY as it expands beyond HELOCs into student loans, DSCR loans, unsecured loans, bankruptcy claims, and more. Operationally, Figure cuts average loan production cost by ~93% and compresses median funding time from ~42 days to ~10, creating a durable speed-and-cost advantage.

article-image

The Ethereum co-founder suggested LINEA holders would be eligible for other airdrops in cryptic tweet

article-image

The layer-2’s biggest release yet brings benefits — but a post-upgrade outage caused a chain reorg

article-image

Crypto is shifting into risk-on mode — pump.fun dominates meme activity, while Lido leans on treasury maneuvers

article-image

If the president breaks the Fed, he’ll own the budget problems

article-image

Combining Franklin Templeton’s tokenization expertise with Binance’s trading infrastructure could speed crypto adoption, companies say

article-image

The firm’s upcoming filing comes as competition heats up over the USDH stablecoin