Katherine Ross

NewCo may soon have a new CEO.&nbsp;



The new company would rise from the ashes of the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius.



A filing on Friday, Sept. 8 nominates nine new directors and Steve Kokinos as CEO.&nbsp;



The plan, which the creditors and Fahrenheit put together, boosted the number of seats on the board from seven to nine.&nbsp;



Kokinos stepped down as CEO of Algorand in July of last year. He’s also a co-owner of Fahrenheit, which won the auction for Celsius in <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/fahrenheit-wins-bid-for-celsius">May of this year.</a> As part of the deal, Fahrenheit took control of around $500 million worth of liquid crypto.



“Kokinos has been a serial entrepreneur and investor for over 25 years, founding and operating companies ranging from internet infrastructure, cloud software, communications and crypto,” the 170-page <a href="https://cases.stretto.com/public/x191/11749/PLEADINGS/1174909092380000000044.pdf">document</a> said.



Michael Arrington, the founder of Arrington Capital, is also named as a possible board member in the documents. Arrington Capital is also an equity owner of Fahrenheit.&nbsp;



Other board members include Thomas DiFiore, Scott Duffy, Emmanuel Aidoo, Elizabeth A. LaPuma, and Fredrick Arnold.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/celsius">Celsius</a> received court approval on its disclosure statements detailing a plan to sell assets to Fahrenheit in August. With the approval, the bankrupt crypto lender moved a step closer to exiting the bankruptcy process.&nbsp;



Earlier this summer, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Federal Trade Commission and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cftc-ftc-sue-celsius">CFTC claimed</a> that Celsius “duped” customers into depositing crypto on Celsius.



The Department of Justice also charged ex-Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky with defrauding customers. <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=blockworks+doj+mashinsky&amp;rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS1052US1053&amp;oq=blockworks+doj+mashinsky&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60.6382j0j4&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8">According to recently unsealed documents</a>, the DOJ froze Mashinsky’s assets in August.



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Ex-Algorand CEO Steve Kokinos tapped to lead Celsius 2.0

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_62c8564c6a8d9" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>A 21Shares executive jumps to competing crypto ETP issuer</li>
 <li>Algorand’s former chief marketing officer joins digital asset management firm</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Binance.US appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmine-lee-1b441014/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jasmine Lee</a> to be its chief financial officer. She joins from micro-investing app company Acorns, where she was chief financial officer and chief operating officer.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Before Acorns, she was CFO and COO for the consumer product group at PayPal. She held various leadership roles during her eight years at the company, which she helped grow through its strategic partnerships, pricing initiatives and acquiring new businesses.&nbsp;



“Jasmine is a rare talent who possesses more than 20 years of deep knowledge in both fintech and high growth startup environments,” <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/binance-us/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binance.US</a> CEO Brian Shroder said in a statement. “Her experience at PayPal, a public Fortune 500 company, in particular, will be invaluable as we chart our path to an [initial public offering] in the coming years.”



A Binance.US spokesperson declined to comment on any specific plans to go public.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ted-lin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ted Lin</a>, who was chief growth officer at <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/binance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Binance</a> — the larger, global sister to Binance.US — left the crypto exchange after about five years at the company. He shared in LinkedIn and Twitter posts on July 1 that he wants to spend more time with his family, but noted that he looks to continue advancing the ecosystem through angel investing and mentorship.



“The past 5 years have been the busiest yet most intellectually rewarding years of my career,” Lin wrote. “The experience has been eye opening and humbling. Having bootstrapped multiple teams and initiatives on the rocket ship taught me many valuable lessons in business and in life.”&nbsp;



Before becoming Binance’s head of international markets in September 2017, Lin was a general manager of sales and marketing for Infortrend Technology, according to his LinkedIn profile.



A Binance spokesperson did not immediately comment on Lin’s replacement.



The Algorand Foundation added two executives this week, one of which spent more than 20 years at JPMorgan.&nbsp;



The organization, which helps run the Algorand blockchain’s monetary supply economics, decentralized governance, and open-source ecosystem, named <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-wragge/?originalSubdomain=uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eric Wragge</a> its global head of business development and capital markets. Additionally, it appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnalanwoods/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">John Woods</a> as chief technology officer.&nbsp;



Wragge spent about two decades at JPMorgan, most recently working as a managing director in structured finance and head of asset-backed securities for Northern Europe. In addition to leading global initiatives and strategic partnerships in traditional capital markets and decentralized finance in his new role, Wragge will chair the Algorand Foundation’s investment committee.



As CTO, Woods is set to focus on removing friction from developers’ user experience and improving education for those users, as well as adding tools and resources for building applications on Algorand.



Meanwhile <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/keli-callaghan-b589303/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Keli Callaghan</a>, who most recently worked as Algorand’s chief marketing officer, has joined Arrington Capital as a partner.&nbsp;



The firm, which has more than $1 billion in assets under management, has invested in digital assets and Web3 since 2017. It was founded that year by TechCrunch and Crunchbase founder Michael Arrington and former TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde.



Callaghan is set to help grow the fund through increased brand awareness, community engagement and supporting the Web3 companies in Arrington’s portfolio.



Switzerland-based Crypto ETP issuer Valour hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-infuso/?originalSubdomain=ch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marco Infuso</a> to lead the global sales of its ETPs as chief sales officer.



Infuso has worked in a range of asset management roles over the past two decades, including at DZ Bank, Pioneer Investments Lombard Odier and Commerzbank. He was most recently a managing director and head of Germany at <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/21shares/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">21Shares</a>, the world’s largest crypto ETP issuer.



In addition to Infuso’s addition, the company announced that <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianabiggs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Diana Biggs</a> is stepping down from her role as chief strategy officer to pursue other opportunities. Biggs told Blockworks she will remain in the position until the end of October. She declined to comment on where she is headed.



Crypto exchange Gate.io named an executive vice president who has previously driven global brand operation and management at companies including Google and WeWork.



Tom Yang will focus on enhancing Gate.io&#8217;s market share in key and emerging markets around the world, increasing its brand presence and strengthening the exchange&#8217;s relationships with users and partners, he said in a statement.



Brazil-based fintech company and digital bank Neon hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andr%C3%A9-madeira-04857910/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">André Madeira</a> as chief technology officer.&nbsp;



Madeira sold his artificial intelligence-powered fintech startup Meemo last year to Coinbase, where he recently oversaw consumer-facing data products. He has also built and led engineering and data efforts and teams for nearly a decade at Google and Snap, where he was a senior staff software engineer and director of engineering, respectively.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">In case you missed it</h3>



As Blockworks previously reported, Jason Fung, TikTok’s former head of gaming, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tiktoks-ex-head-of-gaming-starts-blockchain-company-meta0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">started blockchain infrastructure company Meta0</a>, which aims to connect different metaverses.



Celsius Network <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-reorganizes-board-of-directors-amid-liquidity-issues/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">added finance executives</a> David Barse and Alan Jeffrey Carr as directors, according to a Wednesday filing. The crypto lender also recently terminated Gilbert Nathan, John Stephen Dubel and Laurence Anthony Tosi as directors.



Layoffs around the industry also persisted.



Compass Mining <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/compass-mining-searches-for-direction-after-top-execs-resign/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">is eliminating staff</a> after former CEO Whit Gibbs and CFO Jodie Fisher resigned. The firm’s recently appointed interim CEOs Thomas Heller and Paul Gosker said the size of the team would be reduced by 15%, admitting that Compass Mining “grew too quickly.”



Peng Zhong, CEO of Cosmos blockchain developer Ignite, <a href="https://twitter.com/zcpeng/status/1542891986188902404" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> last Friday that he had formally left the firm. <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/cosmos-developer-ignite-sees-mass-exodus-and-layoffs-as-ceo-exits/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The company’s headcount</a> has been reduced by over 50%, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/07/01/cosmos-builder-ignite-cuts-headcount-by-more-than-50-ex-employees-say/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinDesk</a> reported.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Binance.US Hires CFO To Help It Chart IPO Path

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_622bc409e82cd" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The week started off strong with Immutable’s $200 million financing round, valuing the company at $2.5 billion on Monday</li>
 <li>Bain Capital Ventures, which has about $155 billion in assets under management, launched a $560 million crypto-focused venture arm</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The crypto funding environment continued to heat up this week as massive mega rounds and funds launched in the space.&nbsp;



Over $1.82 billion in fresh capital entered the space, up 36% from <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/funding-roundup-1-34b-invested-in-crypto-companies-and-funds-this-week/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$1.34 billion </a>from last week. The total money invested this week came from about 30 deals and funds, according to PitchBook data.



The week started off strong with Immutable’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/immutable-notches-2-5b-valuation-after-series-c-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$200 million</a> financing round on Monday, which valued the company at $2.5 billion. The round was led by Temasek and included other investors like Animoca Brands, Tencent, ParaFi Capital, Princeville Capital, Arrington Capital, Mirae Asset and Liberty Global.



On Tuesday, Bain Capital Ventures, which has about $155 billion in assets under management, launched a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bain-capital-ventures-launches-560m-crypto-focused-fund-as-ecosystem-booms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$560 million</a> crypto-focused venture arm. The funds will be deployed into about 30 companies or protocols focused on DeFi and crypto infrastructure, Stefan Cohen, managing partner at Bain Capital Crypto, told Blockworks.



Over the next 10 years, the Bain Capital Crypto team anticipates crypto getting integrated and embedded into traditional consumer and business software stacks and plans to invest in companies that will bridge protocols into established software ecosystems, Cohen said on Tuesday.



Separately, Singapore-based platform Cake DeFi has launched its corporate venture arm with <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/singapore-based-cake-defi-launches-100m-in-capital-for-venture-arm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$100 million</a> in capital, the firm told Blockworks on Wednesday. Cake DeFi Ventures (CDV) will focus its investments across Web3, the metaverse, the NFT space, gaming, esports and fintech spaces that will benefit its core business, it said.



It was also leaked that Ethereum layer-2 developer StarkWare is raising <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereum-scaling-startup-reportedly-triples-valuation-in-four-months/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">at least $100 million</a>, which would increase its valuation to $6 billion, Israeli newspaper Calacalist <a href="https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rjm00s7wbq" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. StarkWare declined to comment Thursday. However, a company source, who spoke to Blockworks under condition of anonymity, said they couldn’t confirm it, “but it sounds entirely plausible.”



The new valuation is triple its previous $2 billion valuation from just four months ago, when the company raised $50 million in a Series C round led by Sequoia Capital.



Other notable capital raises this week:&nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Okcoin announces “Bitcoin Odyssey” collective with plans to invest <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/okcoin-announces-165m-bitcoin-odyssey-collective-partners-with-top-venture-firms-to-supercharge-bitcoin-adoption-301500256.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$165 million</a> over the next 12 months into Bitcoin-focused DeFi apps&nbsp;</li><li>Scaling and privacy solution for Web3 applications, Espresso Systems, debuted to the public with a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/espresso-systems-launches-to-public-amid-a-32m-raise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$32 million</a> funding round</li><li>Stablecoin payment builder Kado closed a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/payment-builder-kado-closes-first-capital-raise-to-expand-access-to-stablecoins/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$5.4 million</a> fundraise&nbsp;</li><li>Swim Protocol raised <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/03/09/2400100/0/en/Swim-Protocol-Raises-4M-for-Innovative-Cross-Chain-Infrastructure.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$4 million</a> in seed funding by Pantera Capital with participation from FTX, Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures and others</li></ul>



Check back next week for more funding news.



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Funding Roundup: More Than $1.8 Billion Pooled Into Crypto Companies and Funds This Week

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_622623f1e5b17" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Staff will go from 170 to 350 full-time employees over the next year, co-founder Robbie Ferguson told Blockworks</li>
 <li>Immutable raised $60 million in Series B funding in September</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Immutable, creator of the NFT-focused layer-2 scaling protocol Immutable X, secured $200 million in Series C funding, launching the Sydney-based startup to a $2.5 billion valuation.



Led by Temasek, investors in the financing round include Animoca Brands, Tencent, ParaFi Capital, Princeville Capital, Arrington Capital, Mirae Asset and Liberty Global.



King River Capital, Prosus Ventures, AirTree Ventures, Declaration Partners, Fabric Ventures, Possible Ventures and Alameda Research all raised their existing investments in Immutable.



&#8220;We&#8217;ll be growing from 170 to 350 people over the next year — investing in a global partnerships and gaming advisory team and tripling our product and engineering teams,” Robbie Ferguson, co-founder of Immutable, told Blockworks.



Immutable made headlines in October for creating Immutable X, which powered TikTok’s NFT (non-fungible token) collection. It was billed as the first layer-2 protocol on Ethereum that allowed instant trading and zero gas fees, which often served as a roadblock for minting NFTs.



Earlier this month, Immutable announced a $100 million joint fund with GameStop for blockchain gaming startups.



The company was founded in 2018 by brothers Robbie and James Ferguson.



“In 2017, we saw NFTs come out with CryptoPunks and [my brother and I] said, ‘This is it,’” Robbie said. “This is going to be massive because there is more uniquely ownable stuff in the world than there is currencies. The ability to have digital property rights is going to be the most important thing.”



In its early years, Immutable was known for creating “<a href="https://godsunchained.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gods Unchained</a>,” which Robbie described as “the first multiplayer game with NFTs on Ethereum, [all] completely on-chain.”



The company has since expanded, launching tokens such as IMX in September, which sold out on CoinList in under an hour and raised over $12.5 million.



That same month, Immutable <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/layer-2-solution-immutable-closes-60m-series-b-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> a $60 million Series B funding round to boost NFT trading. BITKRAFT Ventures and King River Capital co-led the round, with participation from Alameda Research, Galaxy Interactive, VaynerFund and Apex Capital.



Along with the Monday announcement, Immutable announced new C-suite hires such as former Riot Games exec Justin Hulog. The startup also tapped ex-Shutterfly chief marketing officer, John Boris, as its chief growth officer.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



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