Crypto Hiring: Senior execs depart, appointed across segment

The co-CEO and chief technology officer of crypto market maker GSR have exited the firm, the company revealed this week. 

Rich Rosenblum, who co-founded the company more than a decade ago, has stepped down “to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities,” GSR said in a Wednesday X post. 

“His visionary leadership and innovative approach have played a pivotal role in shaping our strategic direction and establishing GSR as a leading player in the cryptocurrency market,” the company wrote.

Read more: Crypto Hiring: Copper, OKX name new executives

John MacDonald, GSR’s CTO since January 2022, will also be leaving the firm. 

It is unclear where Rosenblum and MacDonald will work next. A GSR spokesperson did not return a request for comment about who could replace the executives. 

The moves come after Rosenblum and Xin Song became co-chief executives on July 1. GSR said at the time that then-CEO Jakob Palmstierna would transition to a president role and lead the company’s client franchise. 

As for C-suite additions, crypto trading firm BlockFills appointed Amy Shelly as its chief financial officer and promoted Neil Van Huis to lead the company’s strategy. 

Shelly formerly spent about six years — from 2016 to 2022 — as CFO for the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC).

Her new firm “solves fragmented liquidity problems through aggregation and matching algorithms, and provides an end-to-end software suite that simplifies all aspects of the trade lifecycle for institutions,” Shelly said in a LinkedIn post.

Van Huis, a director at BlockFills since 2018, now carries the chief strategy officer title. As a founding partner, Van Huis was tasked with building out global trading relationships and driving new business.

The two executives step into their new positions as the firm “prepares to launch international offices, expands the BlockFills product offering and positions itself for major growth in the institutional digital assets space,” the company said in a statement. 

Read more: Digital assets involvement becoming “inevitable” for more institutions

CoinShares, a crypto asset manager that recently established a New York office, is hiring for roles in sales, marketing, operations and compliance. 

These upcoming hires will support the Europe-focused firm’s “commitment to scaling US operations” after the company acquired Valkyrie’s crypto ETFs earlier this year, the company said this week. 

Another crypto-related player, meanwhile, has cut staff, Blockworks has learned.

Nova Labs, the company behind the Helium Mobile cell network, laid off 36% of its workforce in August, Lightspeed’s Jack Kubinec reported Friday. 

One person familiar with the situation said the layoffs were done to focus more on Nova Labs’ core cellular business. A former employee estimated the company had 105 employees at the time of the cuts.

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