August saw a resurgence in hiring activity, with a significant number of senior-level changes occurring across exchanges, custodians, and infrastructure companies. Coinbase, Grayscale, and Coingecko saw the most notable changes, with these companies restructuring their leadership to clarify and strengthen their market positioning ahead of the next market cycle. Furthermore, CleanSpark's co-founder returned to the CEO position following a leadership shakeup.
Advisory appointments were also notable, with prominent figures such as Arthur Hayes and Peter Smith taking on new roles. Stablecoin projects and venture capital firms in particular rely on strategic hires and board additions to bolster their credibility and expand their influence.
There were also some notable departures, from the Solana Foundation's head of communications to the head of crypto operations at the IRS, highlighting the continued high turnover at the intersection of cryptocurrency and regulation. Overall, August's personnel changes suggest that despite the continued market downturn, companies are prioritizing talent in policy, compliance, and capital markets.
recruitment
- Circle, the issuer of USDC, hired Adi Seredinschi as Chief Product Manager. He previously served as Director of Product at Informal Systems. The company also appointed Nicholas Walsh as Vice President of Brand and Creative, having previously served as Senior Vice President of Brand, Creative, and AI Operations at Laetro.
- Australian crypto tax services provider Crypto Tax Calculator has hired Josh Scheffey, formerly head of sales and business development for Arculus’ Web3 and gaming businesses, as senior director of strategic accounts for the Americas.
- Crypto VC CyberFund has appointed Chrissy Hill as its chief legal officer. She previously held the same position at Parity Technologies.
- Blockchain lending firm Figure has appointed Reid Simon, formerly head of DeFi and credit solutions at Securitize, as head of inclusive prime brokerage.
- Prediction market Kalshi has hired John Wang, who previously co-founded and served as CEO of Armor Labs, as head of its crypto business.
- Bitcoin payments company Lightspark has appointed Alberto Martin as chief product officer. He most recently served as director of Web3 product management at Google.
- Mysten Labs, a Sui blockchain development team, has appointed Mustafa Al Niama as managing director and head of capital markets. He joins from Goldman Sachs, where he was previously head of digital assets for the Americas.
- Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs has appointed Sean Soper as its head of finance. He previously served as head of finance at the Sei Development Foundation.
- Crypto exchage OKX has appointed Marcus Hughes as Vice President of Global Government Relations. He previously served as Vice President of Global Regulatory Strategy at Kraken.
- Solana ecosystem wallet Phantom has hired Donnie Dinch, formerly CEO of Bitski, as Vice President of Strategy.
- Bitcoin asset management firm ProCap has hired Jeffrey Park, formerly head of Alpha strategies at Bitwise Asset Management, as partner and chief investment officer.
- Crypto advisory firm Renaud Partners has appointed Gregor Frick as a partner, having previously worked at crypto VC Moonrock Capital.
- Crypto lender Nexo has appointed Lorenzo Pellegrino, formerly CEO of Skrill, NETELLER, and Income Access at payments platform Paysafe, as its chief banking officer.
- Digital asset securities firm Securitize has appointed Graham Ferguson, formerly head of growth and marketing at Ethereum interoperability protocol Omni Network, as its head of ecosystem.
- Centrifuge, a RWA program, has hired Jürgen Blumberg, formerly EMEA COO at Goldman Sachs’ ETF Accelerator, as its Chief Operating Officer. He will also serve as Chief Information Officer of Anemoy, Centrifuge’s on-chain native asset management subsidiary.
- Grayscale Investments, the crypto asset management platform, has expanded its management team with the additions of Diana Zhang (COO), Ramona Boston (CMO), Andrea Williams (Chief Communications Officer), and Maxwell Rosenthal (Chief Human Resources Officer).
- Bitcoin Reserve Murano has appointed Eric Weiss to its board of directors and as chair of its Bitcoin Strategic Initiatives Committee.
- Komainu, a regulated digital asset custodian, has hired Jamal Qaimmaqami as General Counsel for the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia Pacific region.
- EverGive, the philanthropic technology platform that supports Bitcoin reserves, has appointed co-founder Muhammed Yesilhark as president.
- Nasdaq-listed crypto mining company CleanSpark has reappointed Matt Schultz as CEO following the resignation of Zachary Bradford.
- Crypto VC Foresight Ventures has added Alice Li and Zac Tsui as partners.
- Cryptocurrency data platform Coingecko has made several leadership changes: co-founder Bobby Ong has been appointed CEO, replacing co-founder TM Lee, who has transitioned to the role of president. Cedric Chan has been appointed CTO, and Xingyi Ho has transitioned from head of growth to head of product.
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has appointed Judge Margaret "Meg" Ryan as Director of the Division of Enforcement.
- Digital asset investor Dan Tapiero has welcomed Michael Scott as a partner to the new brand 50T, which was formed by merging private equity firms 10T Holdings and 1RoundTable Partners.
- Stablecoin industry body Stablecoin Standard has appointed Oliver Madden as head of membership and education and added Elliot Hentov of State Street Global Advisors (State Street IM) to its board of directors.
- Crypto over-the-counter clearing platform BridgePort has hired former Goldman Sachs and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) executive Steven Bartfield as chief product officer.
- Crypto-friendly bank Xapo Bank has hired Tommy Doyle as head of client relationship management, formerly of cryptocurrency prime broker FalconX.
Promotions and Consultant Appointments
- Decentralized exchange infrastructure 0x promoted Rui Zhang from deputy general counsel to general counsel.
- Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has promoted Shan Aggarwal, vice president of corporate and business development, to chief business officer.
- Nasdaq-listed TON treasury firm Verb Technology has made a series of appointments to its DAT initiative focused on the TON chain: Manuel Stotz as Executive Chairman, Veronika Kapustina as CEO, Sarah Olsen as CFO/COO, and Peter Smith (Blockchain.com) as advisor.
- Tether, the issuer of the stablecoin USDT, has appointed Bo Hines, former executive director of the White House Crypto Council, as a strategic advisor on digital assets and U.S. strategy.
- Solana-listed reserve company Upexi has formed an advisory board and appointed Arthur Hayes as its first member.
- Barry Silbert, founder of crypto asset management platform Grayscale Investments, has succeeded Mark Shifke as chairman, while Mark Shifke remains on the board of directors.
- TM Lee, co-founder of cryptocurrency data platform Coingecko, has been promoted from CEO to president.
Resignation
- Jason Zhao, co-founder of the on-chain IP ecosystem Story, has resigned to start a new AI venture.
- Arielle Pennington, communications lead for the Solana Foundation, a L1 project, has resigned.
- Zachary Bradford, CEO of Nasdaq-listed crypto mining company CleanSpark, has resigned from his executive and board positions.
- Trish Turner, the head of crypto operations at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), has left the agency to join Crypto Tax Girl as tax director.
