Key crypto hires and moves: July 2021

Last month the crypto industry continued to attract big talent from the traditional finance and tech world. Plus, there were a couple of big moves within the crypto industry.

Here’s all you need to know about crypto hiring in July.

SBI-owned B2C2, an institutional crypto trading platform, has hired Nicola White as president of its U.S. division. Previously she was the global COO of fixed income at Citadel Securities, and before that she spent 12 years at JPMorgan.
Brian Wright, former director of bitcoin mining at Fidelity Investments, has moved to Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital, where he will be VP of product for its mining team.
Crypto exchange Kraken’s chief commercial officer Robert Zagotta has left the company to join rival crypto exchange Bitstamp as CEO of its U.S. division, which has been rapidly expanding. (Toward the end of last year Bitstamp poached Gemini’s managing director of Europe, Julian Sawyer, as CEO of its main exchange.)
As Coinbase begins to grow its media content arm, it has hired the Wall Street Journal’s newsletter editor Tyler Blint-Welsh to take on a “senior-level role” on its content team.
Sam Lin, former executive director and CFO of Chinese fintech platform 9F, has joined Switzerland-based SEBA bank — which is focused on digital assets — as its Asia CEO. He spent 14 years prior in investment banking, with stints at Barclays and Credit Suisse.
Sean Judge has left Highland Capital to become a general partner at Castle Island VC firm, which was co-founded by Coin Metrics’ Nic Carter. Judge also sits on Coin Metrics’ board.
Michael Bressler has left his position as head of western regional sales and marketing at JPMorgan, where he worked for just shy of 14 years (following stints at Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital and Millennium Partners). He is now market-making firm GSR’s global head of sales.
BlockFi has also brought Yuri Muskin on board as its chief risk officer. He joins the firm from alternative investment manager The Beneficient Company Group. Prior to that, Muskin was a senior expert at McKinsey and Company and spent 14 years as an executive director at Goldman Sachs.
Lending platform YouHodler has picked up two key hires. Igor Bannikov, its new chief risk and compliance officer, was previously a compliance advisor at Swiss private bank Union Bancaire Privée, and has held compliance positions at banks Lloyds and UBS. Monica Chauhan, who joins from Softbank, is YouHodler’s new head of investor relations. She spent six years prior at Barclays bank.
Crypto exchange BitPanda has brought in Irina Nicoleta Scarlat as chief growth officer. Previously, she worked as neobank Revolut’s global head of growth, following a marketing role at Uber.
Justin Zhu has joined bitcoin mining firm BIT Digital — which has recently been migrating its mining machines from China to the U.S. — as vice president of finance. He was previously a senior manager at accounting firm EY. Before that, he had a stint at PwC.
According to a confidential investor letter obtained by Decrypt, ParaFi Capital partner Santiago Santos has left the firm. He is an influential crypto investor who has previously worked at Sageview Capital and JPMorgan. An anonymous ParaFi investor told the outlet that he predicts Santos will start his own crypto fund.
Crypto lawyer Gabriel Shapiro has left San Francisco’s boutique law firm Belcher, Smolen & Van Loo LLP to join Delphi Labs as its general counsel. Part of Delphi Digital, the goal of Delphi Labs is to attract talent and use it to incubate projects.
Institutional crypto firm Babel Finance has hired Edmond Lau as its chief financial officer. Lau was a vice president at investment bank Citigroup and has worked as a senior accountant at consulting firm Accenture.
Sarah Brooks has left VC firm Polychain Capital where she worked for its legal and compliance team. She has moved to one of its portfolio companies called Connext, a cross-chain liquidity network, where she will run operations. This comes as VCs continue to play a big role in helping with hires.
Institutional investment firm Blocktower Capital has moved its headquarters from New York to Miami, including all personnel, with plans to hire locally. This is in keeping with the current hot trend.