Ben Strack

A former executive at Gemini and Coinbase now seeks to help a crypto-as-a-service infrastructure platform expand operations into Europe.



Zero Hash has brought aboard <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/araba-e-1369a121/details/experience/">Araba Eshun</a> as its head of compliance in the UK and deputy lead of international compliance.&nbsp;



Founded in 2017, the company has secured money transmitter licenses to operate across 51 US jurisdictions, as well as two BitLicenses from New York’s Department of Financial Services. It has now applied for crypto asset registration with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).&nbsp;



Eshun led crypto exchange Gemini’s UK compliance efforts for the last two years, according to her LinkedIn page. Prior to that, she was a money laundering reporting officer for Coinbase, a senior compliance officer at payments platform Paysafe and chief compliance officer at UK-based crypto exchange Coinfloor.



Brazilian digital banking platform Nubank, which supports a handful of cryptocurrencies, appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmarcus/details/experience/">David Marcus</a> as a member of its board of directors.



Marcus is the CEO and co-founder of Lightspark — a company building infrastructure for Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. He most recently spearheaded all payments and crypto efforts at Meta (formerly Facebook), which he joined in 2014 to lead Messenger.



The executive spent nearly four years as head of Novi, Meta’s digital wallet designed to help people send and hold Libra digital currencies. The company shut down Novi last year. Marcus was also a president at PayPal from 2012 to 2014.&nbsp;



The appointment comes after Brazil-based Nubank launched a crypto token last week for its 70 million customers in Brazil that rewards users’ engagement through a loyalty program. Nubank revealed it had reached 1 million customers trading cryptocurrencies in the country last July — a month after launching its crypto product.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Electric Capital taps three advisers to spur growth&nbsp;</h2>



Crypto-focused venture capital firm Electric Capital brought aboard <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/eladgil/">Elad Gil</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/akashdgarg/">Akash Garg</a>, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-rettig-8b90a284/">Rebecca Rettig</a> as advisers.&nbsp;



Gil co-founded Color Health and Mixer Labs — acquired in 2009 by Twitter, where he subsequently worked as a vice president — and also started Google’s mobile team. He is set to work with Electric Capital founders on fundraising, product strategy and organizational growth.



Garg was most recently chief technology officer at web3 infrastructure company MoonPay after a short stint as vice president of engineering at Block. He also spent nearly three years as a director of engineering at Uber.



Rettig <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/robinhood-exec-jumps-to-crypto">recently joined Polygon Labs</a> as its chief policy officer after leading Aave’s legal and policy efforts for nearly two years.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Electric has raised more than $1 billion in capital to invest in early-stage crypto companies and protocols with investment sizes ranging from $1 million to $50 million.&nbsp;



The company said in November <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/electric-capital-stayed-away-from-sbf">it dodged a bullet when crypto exchange FTX collapsed</a> thanks to “yellow flags” it spotted about the firm during due diligence.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Marketing execs move around segment</h2>



Web3 investment firm CoinFund hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliemossler/">Julie Mossler</a> as its head of marketing and communications.&nbsp;



Founded in 2015, CoinFund has stakes in more than 90 web3 ventures in sectors including artificial intelligence, protocols, gaming and NFTs. A registered investment advisor, the firm specializes in both web3 and crypto-focused investments.&nbsp;



Mossler is set to “reimagine” the firm’s marketing and narrative strategy and support the go-to-market approaches of its portfolio companies.



She was most recently chief marketing officer at NFT ecosystem Metaplex and has also worked as interim CMO at fintech blockchain unicorn Paxos. Prior to her time in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, Mossler held senior brand and growth roles for Waze and Groupon.



Web3 gaming company Immutable appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/devonferreira/">Devon Ferreira</a> as chief marketing officer.



He will be tasked with helping onboard thousands of game developers to Immutable — a company that says nearly $1 billion was invested in games on its platform last year.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Ferreira was formerly a marketing chief and brand builder for the Avalanche network, working at Ava Labs from July 2021 to December 2022. He was a director of marketing and strategy at The Walt Disney Company before moving to apparel company Oakley as its global head of digital.&nbsp;



Immutable also promoted senior vice president<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonsuen/"> Jason Suen</a> to chief commercial officer.

Crypto Hiring: NuBank Taps Lightspark CEO, Ex-Meta Exec as Board Director

A longtime product executive who has spent time at Robinhood, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and American Express is moving into the crypto space.



Digital assets platform FalconX revealed Tuesday it has hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/cetinok/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Baris Cetinok</a> as its chief product officer. 



Cetinok most recently led product teams for Robinhood&#8217;s brokerage, trading and clearing platforms. Before that, he served in various senior roles for Apple, including senior director of product management for Apple Wallet, Apple Pay and iCloud.&nbsp;



&#8220;Post-FTX fallout, there&#8217;s a growing need among institutional investors to improve risk management and trade more efficiently,&#8221; Cetinok said in a statement. &#8220;It&#8217;s an honor to join a company creating dependable infrastructure that facilitates global investor access to crypto while enabling the tokenization of traditional assets.&#8221;



Polygon Labs added <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-rettig-8b90a284/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rebecca Rettig</a> as its first chief policy officer as the blockchain platform eyes institutional growth.



Rettig was formerly a board member at Silvergate Bank and chief legal and policy officer at Aave Companies. She also previously represented blockchain and crypto clients as a partner at Manatt, Phelps &amp; Phillips.



“The end of 2022 was rough for crypto,” Rettig said in a Thursday tweet. “I did some soul searching about the industry [and] how to build a future I believe in. I kept coming back to the same idea: the most important thing right now is getting crypto policy right.”



She added that Polygon Labs is set to advocate for base-layer protection, DeFi, NFTs, Web3 gaming and innovative apps growing the Web3 world, as well as “sensible” regulation around front-ends, wallets and bridges.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">11/ The next few years will determine the fate of web3. They won’t be easy, but we aren’t going anywhere. No paradigm-shifting tech has seamlessly changed the world. I’ve rolled up my sleeves, contemplated drinking coffee &amp; I am, as I have been for years, here for the mission.💪&mdash; Rebecca Rettig (@RebeccaRettig1) <a href="https://twitter.com/RebeccaRettig1/status/1623672097774923778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Rettig is also set to help develop legal frameworks for the Polygon-based tokenization of real-world assets, according to the company.&nbsp;



An executive at banking titan State Street told Blockworks last year that using <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/state-street-sees-significant-opportunity-in-tokenization">distributed ledger technology to tokenize funds and private assets</a> would be a major focus in 2023. Larry Fink, CEO of asset management giant BlackRock, said in November he believes tokenization of securities is “<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/blackrock-ceo-still-in-crypto-for-the-tech-despite-ftx-scandal">the next generation for markets</a>.”



Venture capital firm a16z promoted <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddy-lazzarin-66059749/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Eddy Lazzarin</a> to chief technology officer for its crypto fund. 



A firm that invests in crypto and Web3 startups, a16z crypto has raised more than $7.6 billion for its four funds.



Lazzarin joined a16z as a data scientist in 2019 and became the company’s head of engineering about two years later. He is now set to oversee the research and security unit in addition to the engineering and data science division he had already been leading.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Under his leadership, a16z crypto’s engineers have been continuously adding to our suite of open-source tools that benefit the entire ecosystem — including Helios, Halmos, privacy-protecting airdrops, a starter pack for NFT analysis and more to come,” a16z partner Chris Dixon said in <a href="https://twitter.com/cdixon/status/1623397398201634821" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a tweet thread</a> Wednesday.



Hong Kong-based Web3 company Artifact Labs appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillip-pon-89666a2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Phillip Pon</a> as CEO. He replaces founder Gary Liu, who moves onto the company&#8217;s board as its director.



The company offers advisory services, product development, blockchain engineering and community management for entities looking to launch NFT projects.



Pon was previously the chief operating officer for digital asset company BC Technology Group and president of crypto exchange OSL. He was also chief operating officer of energy services company Lumenix and a longtime senior executive at financial services firm Gerson Lehrman Group.



What other crypto hiring news has Blockworks already covered this week?



Swiss crypto-focused bank SEBA hired a former JPMorgan banker to head its Asia Pacific division.



See: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ex-jpmorgan-banker-hired-as-swiss-crypto-banks-apac-head">Ex-JPMorgan Banker Hired as Swiss Crypto Bank’s APAC Head</a>



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-yu-b94862168/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amy Yu</a> previously worked within JPMorgan’s prime brokerage services division for six years and also formerly worked at traditional finance giant UBS and Nomura. Yu jumped into crypto in 2018 by joining BitMEX to develop services for institutional clients. She then became head of sales for the Asia Pacific region at Genesis, which <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/genesis-in-chapter-11-wont-insulate-silbert-winklevoss-says" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filed for bankruptcy</a> in January.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Robinhood Exec Jumps Ship to Digital Asset Platform

Crypto-related layoffs spiked in January, but the downturn didn’t stop a number of firms from touting their additions and appointments last month.&nbsp;



Digital asset job cuts hit 2,806 last month, according to <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/research/publications/crypto-layoffs-by-month" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinGecko</a>, up from 649 in December — good for a 330% bad-news pop.&nbsp;



Consider that <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-lays-off-950-staff-cuts-operational-costs-by-25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase</a> alone moved last month to cut an additional 950 staffers as part of the beleaguered crypto exchange’s latest attempts to cut down on bear market expenditures.&nbsp;



The sector’s January layoffs have already accounted for 41% of all 2022 crypto staff slashes. It is the second-highest monthly total — nearly reaching the 3,003 layoffs of last June after the collapse of Terra. And it comes as even blue-chip crypto companies continue to wade through the market’s churn that started in earnest in the fourth quarter with FTX’s implosion.&nbsp;



But reports of job cuts over the last few weeks have seemed to stall as the month turned (If we didn’t just jinx it, anyway!)



Crypto data and software provider Lukka hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-hurst-ba143084/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ian Hurst</a> Wednesday to head the firm’s European operations, expanding his role beyond the advisory position he has worked in for nearly two years.



A former general manager of global financial services at IBM, Hurst was also previously a partner at top consultancy Mckinsey &amp; Company.



The hire follows Lukka moving its headquarters to Zug, Switzerland, as well as its deal to support Bitcoin Suisse’s middle and back office operations — each signaling the company&#8217;s intent to increase its presence throughout the continent.&nbsp;



Bitcoin Suisse is an institutionally oriented crypto firm also based in Switzerland.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Arrington Capital — a firm that has invested in digital assets and Web3 since 201 — named <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavik-patel-16704645/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bhavik Patel</a> its chief investment officer.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Previously chief product officer and head of derivatives at crypto exchange BitMEX, Patel helped the firm’s founding team design its perpetual swap product.



Dubit, a developer of metaverse games and experiences, appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/regine/details/experience/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Regine Weiner</a> as its head of studio Thursday.



Weiner joins from developer Mediatonic Games. She has also worked in senior roles at Space Ape Games, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney.



Dubit has crafted metaverse experiences for Nickelodeon, the Grammys and Samsung — and the company recently said it’s rolling out Loooptopia, a Roblox-based world for the clothing brand H&amp;M.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What else did we miss?&nbsp;</h2>



Well, Anchorage Digital went on a bit of a spree, snapping up a slate of new executives in a push to focus on security and compliance.



See: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/anchorage-hires-new-execs">Bank Secrecy Act Officer Amid Anchorage Digital’s Latest Hires</a>



New to the bank are Chief Compliance and Risk Officer <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-dubose/">Mark duBose</a>, who formerly worked at Circle; Chief Information Security Officer <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/fweichelt/">Frieder Weichelt</a>, who joined from BitGo; and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinkpalmer/">Dustin Palmer</a>, a former senior advisor to general counsel at the US Department of Treasury. Palmer is in another privacy-oriented executive seat.&nbsp;



A non-crypto-focused bank, albeit with developing digital asset dealings, also appointed a new chief.



See: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bny-mellon-names-digital-assets-ceo">BNY Mellon Names Digital Assets CEO</a>



The world’s largest custodian bank named <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-butler-b489821/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Caroline Butler</a> to its CEO of digital assets post, a newly created role. Butler joined the company in 2020 and was previously CEO of BNY Mellon’s custody services.



Though details are scarce, the hire is one indication the financial services giant is looking to follow up on BNY’s launch of its digital custody and administration platform in the US for select institutional clients last October.



And as talk around crypto regulation continues, companies are looking to elevate their influence in Washington.&nbsp;&nbsp;



See: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mike-pence-nephew-binance-newest-lobbyist">Mike Pence’s Nephew Among Binance’s Newest Lobbyists</a>



Binance has registered three new lobbyists from legal counsel firm Ice Miller, according to a recent <a href="https://lda.senate.gov/filings/public/filing/6a74c35b-89fc-45bf-bebf-8535e2be9fdd/print/">filing</a> — John Pence, Jarrod Loadholt and Meagan Bolton.&nbsp;



Tether, Bakkt, a16z and Riot Platforms have also disclosed fresh lobbyist roles.



And we could be sharing updates from eBay on future Fridays, considering the digital marketplace is hiring specialists for its NFT marketplace KnownOrigin.



See: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ebay-nft-jobs-web3-knownorigin-amazon">EBay NFT Job Openings Hint At Web3 Showdown With Amazon</a>



Last June, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ebay-acquires-uk-based-nft-marketplace-knownorigin">eBay acquired UK-based KnownOrigin</a> for an undisclosed amount.



Rival Amazon, meanwhile, put up a job posting for a senior go-to-market <a href="https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/2320871/senior-gtm-specialist-web3">specialist</a>, who would be responsible for growing adoption of Web3 workloads on its cloud computing division.&nbsp;



And don’t forget that Amazon is planning to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/amazon-nft-marketplace-web3">launch an enterprise-grade NFT initiative</a>.

Latest in Crypto Hiring: Layoffs Spike But Turnaround Ahead?

Another executive from bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi has surfaced somewhere else.



Zodia Markets, a digital asset exchange backed by Standard Chartered, appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/cryptohoward/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Paul Howard</a> as its head of sales. 



Howard formerly led BlockFi International’s institutional sales team in Asia. The unit’s efforts included developing relationships with crypto and traditional finance clients. BlockFi <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/blockfi-files-for-bankruptcy">filed for bankruptcy</a> in November after the crash of crypto exchange FTX.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Before joining BlockFi, Howard worked in director roles at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns.&nbsp;



Howard’s move comes after fellow former BlockFi executive Samia Bayou <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/blockfi-exec-hired-at-kraken">joined</a> Kraken as the exchange’s head of prime finance and OTC sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She was global head of BlockFi’s private client business from May 2021 to September 2022.



ConsenSys is one of the latest crypto companies to lay off employees, albeit not as many as some others in the space.&nbsp;



The blockchain infrastructure company’s decision to cut jobs will impact 96 employees — about 11% of the company’s total workforce, CEO Joseph Lubin said in a blog post Wednesday.&nbsp;



ConsenSys raised $450 million in March — valuing the company at roughly $7 billion. It <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/consensys-plans-to-redesign-metamask-and-hire-600-new-employees">revealed</a> around that time that it planned to hire more than 600 new employees.&nbsp;



“While I’ve often said that the fear and greed cycles are shortening in duration, our current bear market also coincides with a very challenging macroeconomic environment driven by surging inflation, lagging economic activity, and increased geopolitical unrest,” Lubin added.&nbsp;



The layoffs come a week after Coinbase, Crypto.com and Blockchain.com each announced further headcount reductions amid the ongoing crypto winter.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Web3 platform Fasset hired Khalid Dannish as a general manager for the Middle East and North Africa.&nbsp;



Dannish was formerly a vice president at JPMorgan and Barclays Capital in London. He also previously worked as CEO for Bahrain Fintech Bay.



Fasset, a platform that allows users to buy, sell, send and store digital assets and tokens, raised a $22 million last April in a round led by Liberty City Ventures and Fatima Gobi Ventures.



Mastercard <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mastercard-partners-with-fasset-to-drive-financial-inclusion-in-indonesia">partnered</a> with Fasset in July to expand its financial services to Indonesia, which at the time had more than <a href="https://www.temasek.com.sg/content/dam/temasek-corporate/news-and-views/resources/reports/future-of-southeast-asia-digital-financial-services.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">92 million</a> unbanked people.



Blockchain technology provider Baton Systems appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravindramadduri/?originalSubdomain=uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ravindra Madduri</a> as its global head of product. 



Madduri was most recently head of enterprise products at payment platform Paysend. He also spent nearly a decade at Barclays in a couple roles, including head of international payments and cash management products.



Wells Fargo <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/wells-fargo-and-hsbc-to-use-blockchain-tech-to-settle-transactions">revealed</a> in December 2021 they would use <a href="https://batonsystems.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Baton Systems</a>’ Core-FX distributed ledger technology in the settlement process of cross-border payments. 



In case you missed it, Chris Perkins was appointed as a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Global Markets Advisory Committee.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Perkins has been CoinFund’s president since September 2021. Before that he worked at Citi as its co-head of futures, clearing and foreign exchange prime brokerage.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Another Ex-BlockFi Exec Resurfaces in New Role

<div id="highlights-block_63498df225c23" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Crypto exchange Kraken seeks to build out an NFT marketplace and more spot trading pairs in UK after latest hire</li>
 <li>BlockFi’s co-founder takes chief operating officer post amid executive reshuffle</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Gemini’s former head of UK has joined crypto exchange Kraken to lead its UK operations and drive crypto adoption in the region.&nbsp;



Prior to Kraken and Gemini, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/blairhalliday/?originalSubdomain=uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blair Halliday</a> held senior compliance roles at Circle, CashFlow, ICE and Paysafe Group. He also spent 14 years at NatWest Group and spent a year at JPMorgan.&nbsp;



“Households are actively thinking about the cost of living and personal finances, and we’re proud to highlight a viable alternative to the current legacy financial system,” Halliday said in a statement. Similarly, as institutions further enter the marketplace they’re in search of crypto firms that complement the highest level of security with outstanding products and services.”



Kraken intends to continue hiring in the country and looks to expand its UK product suite with an NFT marketplace and additional spot trading pairs against the British pound sterling (GBP).



BlockFi co-founder <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/founderflori/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Flori Marquez</a> is now the company’s chief operating officer, the crypto exchange revealed late last week.



In addition to Marquez taking on a new role, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/acheela/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amit Cheela</a> is now BlockFi’s new chief financial officer. Formerly working for ESL Investments, Coastal Investment Management and PwC, he replaces Tony Lauro, who will join BlockFi’s board of directors.



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-loban-485a878/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rob Loban</a>, who joined BlockFi in 2020, was promoted to chief accounting officer, while <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/crowellmegan/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Meg Crowell</a>, who came to BlockFi in 2019, is now its chief people officer. Crowell replaces Laura Cooper, who is now an adviser for the firm.&nbsp;



A BlockFi spokesperson declined to comment about the moves.&nbsp;



The executive reshuffle comes a few months after the company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-reaches-deal-to-acquire-blockfi-for-up-to-240m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">signed agreements with FTX US</a> for a $400 million revolving line of credit, as well as for the crypto exchange to buy BlockFi for up to $240 million based on performance triggers.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/-brian-roberts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brian Roberts</a>, who was NFT marketplace OpenSea’s chief financial officer for nearly a year, has left the role.&nbsp;



“I had the rare opportunity to build a team literally from the ground up and handpicked game changers,” he said in <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6984258573081989120/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a LinkedIn post</a>. “I’ve been working closely with [CEO] Devin Finzer and the supremely capable <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinjow/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Justin Jow</a> to ensure a smooth transition, and I will be staying on as an advisor to the company.”



Jow joined OpenSea as vice president of finance earlier this year after a three-year stint at Uber. It is unclear whether he will formally take over the CFO role.



A spokesperson for OpenSea declined to comment.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">New CEOs</h3>



The dYdX Foundation named <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesdhaussy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Charles d’Haussy</a> its new CEO to help grow the decentralized cryptocurrency exchange protocol via partnerships with development teams and other stakeholders.



“The technology, teams, and community are remarkable and share the same mission that has motivated me for decades: democratizing access to financial opportunities,” d’Haussy said in a statement.&nbsp;



The appointment follows dYdX revealing in January that it would launch <a href="https://dydx.exchange/blog/v4-milestones" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a new version of the protocol</a> — the mainnet launch of which is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.



The executive joins the nonprofit from ConsenSys, where he led the company’s growth efforts and global business development in the Asia-Pacific region. Before that, he worked as head of fintech for the Hong Kong government.&nbsp;



Web3-focused research and development company Edge &amp; Node appointed co-founder <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/1stramirez/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brandon Ramirez</a> as interim CEO. Despite the interim title, a spokesperson told Blockworks that the company is not searching for a new chief executive.



Working as Edge &amp; Node’s head of research and product for the last two years, Ramirez replaces former CEO and co-founder Yaniv Tal, who will continue serving on the company’s board of directors.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Edge &amp; Node was created by the core protocol team behind The Graph, an indexing protocol for organizing blockchain data. Ramirez co-founded The Graph and was the lead architect of its initial protocol.



“When we started working on The Graph in 2017, developers had to make the difficult choice between building an application that was truly decentralized or one that offered a great user experience,” Ramirez said in a statement. “I&#8217;m proud of the role The Graph has played in web3 and…I&#8217;m excited to build on that momentum, giving developers and entrepreneurs a powerful decentralized data layer, with open APIs, upon which they can change the world.”&nbsp;



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



NYDIG has <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/nydig-lays-off-a-third-of-its-staff-report/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">laid off about a third of its staff</a> — amounting to roughly 110 people, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-broker-nydig-lays-off-one-third-of-staff-in-effort-to-narrow-focus-11665707545" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the Wall Street Journal reported</a>.&nbsp;



The reported cuts come after the company <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/nydig-closes-1b-funding-round-raising-valuation-above-7b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">completed a $1 billion funding round</a> at a roughly&nbsp; $7 billion valuation last December, and more recently, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/nydig-raises-720m-for-institutional-bitcoin-fund/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised $720 million for its institutional bitcoin fund</a>.&nbsp;



An NYDIG spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.



While some crypto companies continue to cut staff, Anchorage Digital is increasing headcount. The crypto platform hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/cjjouhal/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CJ Jouhal</a> as its head of engineering as the company continues its hiring spree despite the crypto market.&nbsp;



Jouhal, a former chief technology officer at tech company Clear, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/anchorage-digitals-new-engineering-head-focused-on-scaling-team-security/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Blockworks</a> that he is focused on continuing to scale Anchorage’s team. The company is on track to triple the size of its engineering team this year.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Kraken, dYdX Foundation and BlockFi Add Execs

<div id="highlights-block_632d7c47057f3" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Web3-focused strategy and communications firm hires ex-CoinTelegraph CEO</li>
 <li>Crypto prime brokerage adds director of marketing from Fireblocks</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Law firm Willkie Farr &amp; Gallagher hired digital asset attorney <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kari-larsen-01a5bb/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kari Larsen</a> as a partner who will co-lead its digital-focused practice in New York.



Larsen joins the firm from Perkins Coie, where she co-led the blockchain, digital asset and custody group within its fintech practice. She began her career as international operations counsel for the enforcement division of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), advising on cross-border policy matters.&nbsp;



She will help advise clients on issues related to cryptocurrency and digital asset transactional, regulatory and enforcement matters.



The executive will co-head the unit with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-littman-91001414a/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aliceson “Kristina” Littman</a>, who joined the firm earlier this month from the SEC, where she was chief of its crypto assets and cyber unit, as well as <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-browder-16969412/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Justin Browder</a>, who has worked as a partner in Willkie&#8217;s asset management department for the last few years. 



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-christopher-giancarlo-77257111/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">J. Christopher Giancarlo</a>, senior counsel at Willkie and a former chairman of the CFTC, will continue co-leading the practice.



“With the additions of Kari and Kristy, along with Justin taking on a leadership role, our team combines a highly skilled focus on digital assets akin to a boutique fintech firm with the rigor, discipline and reach of one of the world’s premier international law firms,” Giancarlo said in a statement.



Crypto prime brokerage Floating Point Group hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chazelton/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chris Hazelton</a> as its director of marketing. 



Hazelton led marketing teams for custody technology provider Fireblocks, mobile security company Lookout and BlackBerry&#8217;s enterprise software division.



The appointment comes about a month after Floating Point Group <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-prime-brokerage-enlists-former-wells-fargo-jpmorgan-exec/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hired Wells Fargo’s former head of electronic trading sales</a> to oversee business development in the US and throughout Asia Pacific. 



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremeholiman/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jereme Holiman</a> has joined Shardeum, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-based sharded blockchain, as its vice president of people.



Holiman was most recently the co-founder and vice president of people operations at insurance tech platform Clyde. He also co-founded UrbanStem, a floral and gifting e-commerce business.



Shardeum is seeking to double the size of its engineering team over the next six months.



“Regardless of the cross-industry slowdown in hiring, we are marching forward to further expand our ecosystem in India and around the world,” Shardeum CEO Nischal Shetty said in a statement.&nbsp;



Digital asset-backed securities provider ETC Group expanded its European team by adding <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/janaltmann/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jan Altmann</a> and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-b-50a18968/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alan Boulhimez</a> as directors of investment strategy. 



Prior to joining ETC group, Altmann developed the ETF market at Deutsche Börse, and was a senior ETF analyst at JustETF. Boulhimez was most recently head of internal sales at First Trust, and also previously worked as a financial advisor at AXA.



DeFi startup Nova Finance appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaahirah-adam-08044887/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zaahirah Adam</a> as its first chief operating officer. 



Adam most recently worked as chief of staff at finance platform Liberis. Prior to that, she was head of strategy and execution at UK-based Capita Pension Solutions.



“Personal finance, payments and financial freedom has been a longstanding passion of mine,” Adam said in a statement. “I am excited to be moving into a space which has such incredible potential to democratize and open up the financial ecosystem.”



Nova Finance raised $3 million in a seed round last year from investors including Animoca Brands, SkyVision Capital, Rarestone Capital and Solana.&nbsp;



Several months after <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/new-northern-trust-unit-merges-crypto-tradfi-teams/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">merging its teams</a> responsible for digital asset markets and those focused on market access and insights across traditional securities, Northern Trust added a new leader to the combined unit.



Previously the company’s head of market advocacy and innovation research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-buzza-6291988/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Michael Buzza</a> will now work as global head of network management and market strategy. 



Wachsman, a strategy and communications firm advising Web3 and fintech companies, hired ex-CoinTelegraph CEO Jay Cassano as its chief growth officer.



Cassano was editor-in-chief for the crypto media company for a year before becoming its chief executive in September 2020.&nbsp;



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



Algorand hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-quintaglie/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Michele Quintaglie</a>, a former head of communications at Fidelity Investments’ asset management arm and Visa, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/algorand-adds-ex-comms-head-at-visa-fidelity-as-cmo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">as its chief marketing officer</a>. 



Binance revealed this week <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/former-us-senator-will-chair-new-binance-global-advisory-board/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the creation of a global board of advisors</a> that will focus on helping the crypto exchange navigate regulatory complexities in the space. Max Baucus, a former US senator for Montana and America’s ex-ambassador to China, was named chair of the group. 



Japan-based financial giant <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/nomura-targets-crypto-venture-space-with-laser-digital/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nomura launched Laser Digital</a>, which will start by investing in companies that focus on DeFi, centralized finance, Web3 and blockchain infrastructure. 



Steven Ashley, formerly head of Nomura’s wholesale division, has stepped down to help lead Laser Digital as its chair. Jez Mohideen, who joined Nomura in 2018 as a global chief digital officer, is set to be the new business’s CEO.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Law Firm Adds ex-SEC, CFTC Pros

<div id="highlights-block_6308df8376f7a" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Digital assets prime broker hires Wells Fargo’s former electronic trading sales head</li>
 <li>Crypto venture capital firm adds high-profile advisors</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Cowen Digital expanded its institutional sales team with pros joining from Blockchain.com and Coinbase.&nbsp;



The digital asset division of financial services firm Cowen brought aboard <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-rose-a28a2142/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jackie Rose</a> as director of institutional sales, it revealed Thursday. Rose was previously Blockchain.com’s head of institutional business development and also formerly worked at The Carlyle Group and JPMorgan as an associate and investment banking analyst, respectively. 



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chasecampbell24/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chase Campbell</a> is now Cowen Digital’s vice president of digital asset sales. Formerly an institutional sales associate at Coinbase, he supported traditional finance and crypto-native firms looking to trade and custody digital assets. 



TD Bank revealed earlier this month that it is <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/td-bank-buys-cowen-in-tradfi-push-with-crypto-twist/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">set to acquire Cowen for $1.3 billion</a>, though details about how it could seek to leverage Cowen’s digital assets unit remain unclear. 



Eric Rose, Cowen’s head of execution, said in a statement that Cowen Digital plans to continue expanding its team as part of its strategic build over the next five years.



Electric Capital added former SEC chairman Jay Clayton, ex-Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pratitirc/">Pratiti Raychoudhury</a>, Meta’s head of research, as advisors.



The <a href="https://www.electriccapital.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">venture capital firm</a> recently announced $1 billion in capital to invest in early-stage Web3 companies and protocols with investment sizes ranging from $1m to $50m. 



“By bringing together experts in product design, the global financial system and regulation, Electric Capital founders are able to accelerate innovation and the adoption of Web3 tools,” the company said in a statement.



A former member of the institutional business development team at now-bankrupt Celsius Network is now head of lending solutions at Digital Prime Technologies.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-campbell-4124859/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Courtney Campbell</a> is set to lead the development of the company’s institutional lending solution initiative to be announced later this year, Digital Prime Technologies CEO James Runnels said in a statement. 



Before Celsius, she was a managing director for Credit Suisse’s prime services group. Prior to that, she was the Americas head of international securities lending and synthetics at Bank of America, where she worked for more than a decade.&nbsp;



Identity provider Okta added <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/emiliechoi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Emilie Choi</a>, president and chief operating officer of Coinbase Global, to its board of directors.



Choi has worked at Coinbase since 2018 and has also served as a member of the board of directors for ZipRecruiter and others. Before Coinbase, she was LinkedIn Corporation’s head of corporate development from 2009 to 2018.



“It’s clear that identity is at the heart of every industry and every digital interaction,” Choi said. “I look forward to working with Okta as the company executes on its mission of freeing anyone to safely use any technology and creating a world where your identity belongs to you.”



Blockchain analytics company Flipside Crypto hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/daphnekwon/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Daphne Kwon</a> to lead its DAO initiatives.



Kwon joins Flipside Crypto from media conglomerate Meredith Corporation, where she was chief strategy officer. She has also worked as president and chief operating officer of Betaworks Studios, and has held chief financial officer and business development roles at brands such as Disney and Oxygen Media.&nbsp;



&#8220;We&#8217;ll see the emergence of new business models with truly decentralized governance and investment structures that release the power of community passion and expertise — many of which promise to tackle some of the biggest opportunities in global finance, creator economies, healthcare and environmental issues,” Kwon said in a statement.&nbsp;



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



Digital assets prime brokerage <a href="https://www.floating.group/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Floating Point Group</a> nabbed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-eliades-38a8978/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peter Eliades</a> — who last headed electronic trading sales for Wells Fargo — to oversee business development in the US and throughout Asia Pacific, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-prime-brokerage-enlists-former-wells-fargo-jpmorgan-exec/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks reported</a> Wednesday. 



Eliades was a vice president at Lehman Brothers in 2001 before becoming a managing director at Bear Stearns &amp; Co. about four years later. He went on to work for JPMorgan as head of Americas trading.



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/new-web3-head-at-digital-bank-cogni-braces-for-more-regulation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Digital bank Cogni recently brought aboard</a> former registered commodity trading advisor <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/simongrunfeld/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Simon Grunfeld</a> to lead its Web3 initiatives. 



The executive has previously worked for blockchain-as-a-service platform SIMBA Chain, as well as for digital collectibles marketplace VeVe. He also founded white-label platform Ibinex to help enterprises develop crypto exchanges.



Alameda Research co-CEO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-trabucco-79215263/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sam Trabucco</a> revealed Wednesday <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/top-alameda-exec-steps-down/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">he is stepping down</a> from his role at the crypto quantitative trading firm and liquidity provider. He has not yet decided on a new destination, he said in a series of tweets. 



Caroline Ellison is now sole CEO of the company, an Alameda spokesperson told Blockworks.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Ex-pros from Coinbase, Blockchain.com Join Cowen Digital

<div id="highlights-block_62ed4217464ae" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Another 21Shares staffer moves over to competing ETP issuer Valour</li>
 <li>Legal and compliance executive goes from Figure to Wave Financial</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Binance tapped co-founder Yi He to lead the crypto exchange’s venture arm and incubator. The move comes after ex-Binance Labs lead Bill Qian <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bill2022_dear-community-members-and-buidlers-i-am-activity-6938766732631101440-7Tba/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">disclosed</a> he was leaving the company to “move on to a new chapter.” Qian’s next move isn’t known. 



Binance Labs manages $7.5 billion in assets, comprising more than 200 portfolio companies. It has incubated projects such as Polygon, FTX, Certik, Nym and Dune Analytics and closed a <a href="https://www.binance.com/en/blog/ecosystem/binance-labs-closes-$500m-investment-fund-to-boost-blockchain-web3-and-valuebuilding-technologies-421499824684903944" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$500 million investment fund</a> in June. 



Set to lead the business’s global strategy and day-to-day operations, He will also focus on supporting infrastructure projects and improving utility in innovative crypto and blockchain projects.&nbsp;



The “unparalleled opportunity” to identify projects that will thrive in tough market conditions makes it a perfect time for He to take the helm of the company’s venture business, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said.



“As a leading player in the space, my goal is to help define the industry standard by identifying and supporting sustainable projects and building an ecosystem of quality blockchain solutions that empowers the entire industry,” He said in a statement.



Valour, a tech company that offers <a href="https://valour.com/products" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a range of crypto ETPs</a>, hired Elaine Bühler as a product manager to help expand its product lineup.



Previously a product manager for Switzerland-based 21Shares, Bühler was responsible for its crypto ETP (exchange-traded product) launches into the Swiss and European markets.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermaerkl/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peter Märkl</a>, meanwhile, formerly 21Shares’ head of legal, became Valour’s general counsel at the beginning of the month. Valour also hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-infuso/?originalSubdomain=ch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marco Infuso</a>, an ex-managing director and head of Germany at the crypto fund manager, to lead global sales.



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellycchapman/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kelly Catherine Chapman</a> has joined crypto fund manager Wave Financial as head of legal and chief compliance officer.



Chapman will provide legal advice as it relates to Wave’s expansion, including managing outside counsel on fund formation work, active fund management, institutional investor work, venture deals and mergers and acquisitions.



Kelly most recently served as product counsel for securities-related products for Figure, and in-house counsel and chief compliance officer for related funds and registered investment advisers.&nbsp;



Singapore-based blockchain gaming and entertainment company Digital Entertainment Asset (DEA) appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryohei-nuka-88803920/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ryohei Nuka</a> as chief financial officer.



Nuka joined Goldman Sachs in 2009 and was in charge of product control operations for equity and derivatives trading desks. He was more recently a senior controller in the finance department of Goldman Sachs Japan.



DEA’s previous CFO, Kyuzaburo Suzuki, will continue to help develop the company’s financial strategy as a senior advisor.



Web3 game development and distribution company Thirdverse hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/isao-moriyasu-a525882b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Isao Moriyasu</a> as its executive producer of Web3 games. 



The former CEO of DeNA, one of Japan&#8217;s largest IT providers in mobile games, Moriyasu is set to help further drive Thirdverse’s growth in the metaverse and Web3.



Crypto platform BitGo promoted <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chenfang/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chen Fang</a> to chief operating officer and appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/victor-tsou-9456/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Victor Tsou</a> to vice president of engineering.



Fang and Tsou will focus on driving BitGo’s operational strategy as the company continues to offer custodial, trading and finance solutions to investors, fintech firms and crypto native platforms that own digital assets.&nbsp;



Fang most recently worked as BitGo’s chief product officer. Prior to joining BitGo, he co-founded Lumina, a portfolio management suite for digital assets that was acquired by BitGo in early 2020.



Tsou was most recently senior director of engineering at Affirm, where he led efforts in loan servicing, payments processing, international expansion and consumer products. He has also led engineering teams at Block.



Web3 and Metaverse infrastructure company InfiniteWorld hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alank9/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alan Krassowski</a> as chief technology officer. He replaces Lucas Henning, who will become chief technology officer at Suku, InfiniteWorld’s Web3 partner.



Prior to InfiniteWorld, Krassowski served in the roles of CTO, chief architect, vice president of technology, and senior director of engineering at companies such as ConsenSys Capital, Intel Security, Symantec, Cylance and Kiva.&nbsp;



Crypto banking and payments company BVNK hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-cumberlidge-b927731a/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jonathan Cumberlidge</a> to lead foreign exchange growth. He will work with brokers and funds to design digital asset banking and payment solutions that help service demand from active traders in particular.



“Traders want increased access to crypto liquidity, for both spot and derivative products, custody solutions, platforms, banking and payments,” Cumberlidge said in a statement. “With their loyal, active trader customer bases, brokers are ideally positioned to satisfy these demands and diversify into crypto as an emerging asset class.”&nbsp;



The executive most recently worked as a sales director Finalto During his career, Cumberlidge has also held senior sales positions at companies including Saxo Bank, GAIN Capital and GFT.



Robinhood announces more layoffs



Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev revealed on Tuesday that the company would be <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/robinhood-lays-off-23-of-staff-a-day-before-earnings-report/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reducing the company’s headcount</a> by 23% in the wake of reduced customer trading activity and assets under custody.



The layoffs are set to decrease Robinhood’s workforce to 2,600 staffers. Severance and restructuring costs as a result of the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/robinhood-layoff-costs-q2-losses-wont-delay-crypto-product-launches/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">job cuts are estimated to cost between $45 million and $60 million</a>, executives said during the company’s earnings call Wednesday. 



Sam Wellalage, founder of <a href="https://workincrypto.global/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WorkInCrypto.Global</a>, said he expects about a third of the layoffs to stem from digital asset-focused roles.



“Most people who are losing jobs in crypto are snapped up by fintech and TradFi [companies],” Wellalage told Blockworks. “We also see a lot of hyper-growth startups snapping up these candidates.”



The market environment and resulting layoffs are also tough on boutique headhunting firms, like Wellalage’s company. He said his crypto recruiting firm, which averaged about 10 placements per month, is now doing less than half of that.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Binance Co-founder Takes Helm of Exchange’s Venture Arm

<div id="highlights-block_623db5c6dfc0b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Former legal counsel at Deutsche Bank joins Amber Group</li>
 <li>Ethereum scaling platform Polygon names a new chief information security officer</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Anthony Mazzarese and Brandon Mulvihill have left financial services company Jefferies to co-found a startup aiming to serve institutional clients in the crypto space.&nbsp;



Mazzarese was Jefferies’ global head of FX prime brokerage distribution, while Mulvihill served as its global head of FX prime brokerage. The two will now focus on bridging the gap between traditional financial services and digital assets through industrial-grade technology, trade flow expertise and attractive commercial terms, Mazzarese told Blockworks.



The former Jefferies executives are building a team and securing funding, he added. Additional details about the startup are set to come in the next few weeks.



Digital asset platform Amber Group appointed Ehsan Haque as its general counsel for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).



Haque joins Amber Group from his latest role as global head of legal and compliance for private equity firm Hamilton Capital Holdings. He has also recently worked as general counsel for investment technology platform AlphaSwap and Lending Block, an online digital asset lending and borrowing platform.&nbsp;



Earlier in his career, Haque was legal counsel for Deutsche Bank. He later joined Royal Bank of Scotland and was head of equities for Nomura’s EMEA legal department.



The hire follows Amber Group’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-trading-platform-amber-group-eclipses-3b-valuation-with-latest-raise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">latest $200 million raise</a> last month led by Singaporean state holding company Temasek, giving the company a valuation of roughly $3 billion.



Web3 digital identity platform Unstoppable Domains hired Sajjad Rehman as its head of Europe and Nilkanth Iyer as its head of Asia.



Launched in 2018, Unstoppable Domains allows anyone to purchase a domain name that is minted as an NFT on the blockchain. It has more than 2 million registered NFT domains.



Rehman joins from Amazon-owned video livestreaming service Twitch, where he was vice president of business development for the EMEA region. Iyer previously held roles at software intelligence company CAST and tech goliath IBM.



The two executives will seek to help Unstoppable Domains onboard millions of new users to Web3 by partnering with wallets, exchanges and other industry players in Europe and Asia.



Mudit Gupta recently announced on Twitter that he would be joining Polygon as its chief information security officer.



Gupta also serves as an advisor at SushiSwap and a technical partner at Delta Blockchain Fund, according to his LinkedIn profile. He had worked for nearly three years as a senior solidity developer and then lead blockchain engineer for software development company Polymath.



“Polygon is the leading Ethereum scaling platform, and I&#8217;m stoked about our upcoming ZK rollups,” Gupta said in <a href="https://twitter.com/Mudit__Gupta/status/1505918543766122500" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a Monday tweet</a>. “Security has been a priority at Polygon, and I will be pushing it to the next level.”



Decentralized financial market infrastructure company Bosonic hired Paddy Boyle as its global head of clearing and derivatives. Founded in 2016, the firm offers infrastructure aiming to eliminate counterparty credit and settlement risk in digital asset markets.&nbsp;



Boyle was previously a partner at Goldman Sachs, where he spent 16 years as the investment bank’s global head of foreign exchange options. More recently, he was a managing director and global head of ForexClear at London-based clearing house LCH.



Former Treasurer of the United States Rosie Rios joined the board of directors of Unicorn Hunters, a platform that connects companies looking for expansion capital to achieve a billion-dollar valuation.



Rios’ experience will be key to Unicorn Hunters achieving its strategic objectives, which include making Unicoin the top equity-backed cryptocurrency in the world, the company announced Wednesday.



Unicoin, which <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/unicorn-hunters-introduce-unicoin-an-equity-backed-dividend-paying-cryptocurrency-as-a-solution-to-the-high-volatility-of-traditional-cryptocoins-301488540.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched last month</a>, pays dividends and is backed by equity in emerging high-growth companies.&nbsp;



The RLY Network Association hired Jeremiah Owyang as its chief marketing officer.



The non-profit supports the infrastructure and development of the RLY Network, which powers projects including Rally.io, Unite.io and SuperLayer.io.



Owyang is an advisor and angel investor in several early-stage startups, including blockchain gaming giant <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/metaverse-will-empower-creators-ceo-says/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Animoca Brands</a>. He also founded Catalyst Companies, a council for corporations that are seeking to innovate with new technologies.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Jefferies Execs Leave to Create Startup

<div id="highlights-block_62347c36f4570" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>A former Federal Reserve Bank of New York employee has joined a lending protocol</li>
 <li>Crypto-focused asset manager Arca went on a hiring spree</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The gaming and NFT arm of Ethereum scaling platform Polygon has announced a range of hires from some of the largest Web2 companies.&nbsp;



Polygon Studios hired Michael Blank and Young Ko as its chief operating officer and chief financial officer, respectively. Blank joins after working nearly two decades at game developer and publisher Electronic Arts, while Ko spent the past 9 years as the vice president of finance at Penske Media, which includes brands Rolling Stone and Billboard.



Urvit Goel, who most recently helped Amazon launch its cloud gaming business, joins Polygon Studios as vice president of gaming business development. Charnjit Bansi, who was director of product management at Mythical Games, will be vice president of game design.



Ben Watley is Polygon Studio’s new senior director of strategy for gaming, joining from Electronic Arts. He will work alongside Will Matteson, an ex-NASA software engineer and Riot Games strategist, who joins Polygon Studios as corporate strategy manager.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The new hires join Polygon Studio’s recently appointed CEO, Ryan Wyatt, who previously headed YouTube’s gaming vertical.



Crypto exchange Bitstamp USA has hired Rika Khurdayan as its chief legal officer, Silvia Lacayo as head of marketing and Michael Levi as head of product and strategy.



Khurdayan joins from New York-based blockchain law practice KSTechLaw, which she founded. Lacayo most recently worked as head of marketing for software company Viable and also held top marketing roles at ZipRecruiter, Chainalysis and Unilever.



Levi was a managing director for nearly a decade at Level One Consulting Group, a firm focused on marketing, sales and business development strategy. He was also recently chief marketing officer for blockchain company Kava Labs, according to his LinkedIn page.&nbsp;



Crypto-focused asset manager Arca named Deborah Djeu its chief compliance officer and deputy general counsel to oversee the firm’s registered and private funds. She joins from crypto exchange Okcoin, where she was head of regulatory and chief compliance officer.



Scott Helfman, who was most recently director of public affairs at Citi, is Arca’s new head of communications. Before his decade-long tenure at Citi, he served in several communications roles at Deutsche Bank.&nbsp;



Annelise Osborne, who is now head of institutional for Arca’s innovation arm, Arca Labs, rounds out the company’s new additions. She had worked in the digital asset space as the chief operating officer of Propellr and spent 12 years at Moody&#8217;s Investor Service running commercial real estate teams within the structured finance group. 



CoinDesk named Alan Campbell as president of data and indices. The company’s flagship product, the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX), has been in operation since 2014.



Campbell was previously head of product management at Bloomberg Indices and also formerly managed Bloomberg Terminal functions and special projects for the company’s CEO.



Brandon Neal, who worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for nearly a decade, has joined Euler Finance. He now serves as the lending protocol’s chief operating officer.



Neal was most recently a Treasury auction directorate at the bank and previously handled governance and strategic planning.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



In addition to the new hires this week, blockchain infrastructure company announced that it is looking to hire more than 600 new employees following its latest <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/consensys-plans-to-redesign-metamask-and-hire-600-new-employees/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$450 million fundraising round</a>.



Job postings with titles containing terms such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, blockchain and cryptocurrency grew 395% in the US from 2020 to 2021, according to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/linkedin-news_theworkshift-economy-labormarket-activity-6887062336839016450-67iT/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a LinkedIn analysis</a>. This outpaced the broader tech industry, which saw a 98% increase in listings during the same time period.



A Blockworks search on Thursday of US LinkedIn-listed jobs featuring the keyword “crypto” yielded 16,862 results.



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Did you know that Blockworks is hiring too? Check out our available roles on our <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/careers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Careers page</a>!



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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>.

hiring roundup