The Latest in Crypto Hiring: FTX Names Head of Regulatory Strategy

A former marketing executive at Gatorade, Samsung, Verizon and Xbox is jumping into blockchain gaming

article-image

Blockworks exclusive art by axel Rangel

share

key takeaways

  • Lead agent in the 2016 Bitfinex hack investigation joins blockchain intelligence solutions provider
  • Chainlink Labs adds the ex-CTO at Diem Association and a former VP at LinkedIn to its leadership ranks

FTX Europe appointed Marcel Lötscher to the company’s newly created head of regulatory strategy role, and he will step into the position on Oct. 1. He will join the company to continue FTX’s global expansion into Europe and the Middle East.

Lötscher, who holds a doctoral degree in collective investments, is former head of the securities and markets division at the Financial Market Authority (FMA) of Liechtenstein and a member of its executive board.

Patrick Gruhn, head of FTX Europe, highlighted the different regulations across European countries. He told Blockworks that cryptoassets are deemed a financial instrument in Germany, for example, but are treated like commodities in Austria and Switzerland.

“If we have the same rules in all European countries, that makes it easier for crypto firms to sell their product, and at the end of the day, also to be scalable,” Lötscher said.

Crypto lending and borrowing platform Celsius appointed Guillermo Bodnar as its chief technology officer.

Bodnar most recently worked as chief solutions officer at software development company Globant. Before that, he was chief information officer of Arbinet, where he built the largest computer-based telecommunications exchange and trading platform.

Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky founded Arbinet and worked with Bodnar at the company. He noted in a statement that he and Bodnar will focus on “unlocking financial freedom for the next 100 million crypto users.”

Blockware Mining named Jackie Price as its chief operating officer. She is set to lead the Chicago-based company’s corporate partnerships, government affairs, strategic planning, marketing and investor relations.

Price previously served as chief marketing officer of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, one of the largest digital asset industry trade associations, and was also formerly a senior executive at public relations and marketing consultancy firm Edelman.

Izumi World has named a former marketing executive at Gatorade, Samsung, Verizon, Xbox and Rarible as its chief marketing officer.

Jamie Davies spent more than two decades as director of marketing for Gatorade and Samsung. He was also formerly head of brand and innovation marketing at Verizon and a senior advertising manager at Xbox.

A game in which players capture and train magical beasts called Izumis from live-tracked locations in the real world, Izumi World seeks to be a leading augmented reality game in the play-to-earn and traditional gaming spaces. It also plans to launch a non-fungible token (NFT) collection in the second quarter.

Chainlink Labs has added the former chief technology officer at Diem Association and an ex-vice president at LinkedIn to its leadership ranks. 

Dahlia Malkhi, who before working at Diem spent about 10 years at Microsoft Research and co-founded VMware Research, has joined the blockchain oracle solutions provider as its chief research officer.

Chainlink Labs also announced this week that Mike Derezin, who spent more than a decade at LinkedIn, joined the company late last year as its chief operating officer.

Pete Stephens has joined digital asset custodian Komainu as its chief technology officer. 

He previously served as head of technology for Switzerland’s SIX Digital Exchange. He focused on capital markets post-trade technology in roles at DrumG Technologies, UBS AG, IBM and PwC.

Stephens joins Komainu shortly after its introduction of Komainu Yield and will be responsible for expanding the company’s staking services and the buildout of additional yield generating offerings.

TRM Labs named former IRS-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Special Agent Chris Janczewski as head of global investigations.

Janczewski was the lead agent in the Bitfinex hack investigation while at IRS-CI, focusing on the alleged conspiracy of two individuals to launder $4.5 billion in cryptocurrency stolen during 2016. He signed a seizure warrant that recovered $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency, the largest seizure in United States government history.

TRM provides blockchain intelligence solutions to help financial institutions, cryptocurrency businesses and public agencies combat crypto-related fraud and financial crime. 

Casey Wagner contributed to this story.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 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

kamino cover.jpg

Research

Kamino has solidified its position as the leading money market on Solana and is emerging as a DeFi bluechip. Although DeFi competition is fierce, Kamino has kept iterating on its product to provide the best-in-class UX, paired with a robust risk management framework and battle-tested infrastructure. Given the rollout of Kamino Lend V2, the protocol may scale aggressively over the coming months, penetrating previously untapped markets in Solana DeFi.

article-image

Also in the tokenized fund space, Franklin Templeton launches on Base and Securitize hits $1 billion in tokenized RWA onchain

article-image

It turns out that bitcoin never actually hit an all-time high in March. Thanks a lot, inflation.

article-image

Spire, Citrea and Nillion also announced raises this week

article-image

The latest recipient of an SEC Wells notice is a Web3 gaming company

article-image

Thursday’s selloff was led by tech stocks, triggered by disappointing outlooks from giants Meta and Microsoft

article-image

Historically, positive returns have been a bit more of a toss-up during the year’s 11th month