Crypto Hiring: Elon Musk Hires New Twitter CEO, Silvergate Lays Off 230 Employees

Linda Yaccarino will become Twitter chief executive, while Musk steps back into CTO role

article-image

tovovan/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Back in December, Elon Musk put his job as Chief Twit up to a vote on Twitter, and 57.5% of users told him to resign. Since then, many have speculated about who will be the next CEO of the embattled social media platform. 

Now we have the answer. Linda Yaccarino will be the new CEO of Twitter, Musk confirmed Friday on Twitter. 

Yaccarino was the chair of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal and left the company Friday effectively immediately to engage in talks to become the head of Twitter, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday before Musk made the announcement. 

Yaccarino, according to Musk, will be starting in the role in about six weeks and will “focus primarily on business operations.” Musk will step in as CTO and will spend his time on “product design” and “new technology.”

Loading Tweet..

Because Musk hinted that the new hire would be female, it fueled speculation that Meta Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, or former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, could be the new CEO pick. 

Kara Swisher, an American journalist who’s spent decades covering the internet for a bevy of publications, rejected the possibility of Sandberg or Wojcicki being chosen. 

Instead, a day before the announcement, Swisher correctly predicted that Yaccarino would be the new CEO.

Loading Tweet..

Ever since Musk bought and took control of Twitter in late October 2022, there’s been a lot of buzz about whether crypto would factor into the platform. After all, Musk isn’t a newbie in the digital payment space — he founded X.com in 1999, which later became PayPal.

Musk has since adopted a ‘fiat first, crypto later’ philosophy, wanting to master Twitter’s payments system for his ideal “everything app” before adding crypto to the mix. 

Silvergate announces layoffs

The crypto-friendly bank laid off approximately 230 employees, according to a May 11 SEC filing. This leaves about 80 workers who’ll be tasked with liquidating Silvergate, Blockworks reported.

The filing also said there would be three additional layoffs in the coming months. 

“Additional incremental reductions in headcount are expected to occur on each of June 30, 2023, August 30, 2023 and November 30, 2023 or later,” the filing said. 

Silvergate’s woes date back even before the string of bank failures in March. In January, the bank got rid of 200 employees, or about 40% of the staff at that time. The stock dipped as much as 45%.

The bank was also rumored to be tied up in the FTX debacle, with US politicians in December demanding Silvergate to share its financial ties with the bankrupt crypto exchange. 

Other notable hires

  • Three former Coinbase lawyers landed new gigs recently. Rick Estacio joined Reddit Monday as its legal director. Estacio was at Coinbase for eight months before getting laid off, 
  • eTukTuk, a blockchain-based EV and charging station ecosystem powered by Cardano, added three executives to its advisory board. They will help with the launch of a network of charging stations and EVs within Sri Lanka, according to a press release.

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.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Suilend has grown into the top money market and liquid staking provider on Sui. STEAMM, Suilend’s Superfluid AMM, presents a compelling avenue for growing market share within Sui’s DEX landscape and revenue generation for the protocol. Suilend’s multi-product suite position it well for owning market share across key verticals. While current metrics across the Sui ecosystem are likely inflated due to Sui Foundation incentive programs, SEND trades at amongst the lowest multiples in the lend/borrow sector, suggesting that a bull case for continued growth in the ecosystem may be mispriced.

article-image

The best capital markets are open to the most people — and crypto capital markets are open to everyone

article-image

Post-conference musings on Firedancer, Kraken, Solana Mobile and Trump

article-image

Executives expect others to follow SharpLink Gaming’s lead in purchasing an asset that has surged this past month

article-image

After a weekend of tariff policy shifts, investors appear confident that trade deals are underway

article-image

Multiple rounds of prior audits did not catch the flaw, the DEX said

article-image

StarkWare launches new consumer-grade hardware ZK prover