The Block: Binance hires ex-Microsoft and Agoda execs to develop web3 offerings

Binance announced Friday that it recently hired two executives with decades of tech experience to focus on expanding its Web3 offerings.

Binance has appointed former Microsoft corporate vice-president Rohit Wad as its chief technology officer. The cryptocurrency exchange also added Mayur Kamat to serve as its head of product, joining the company after serving as the vice-president of product for travel company Agoda.

Both executives will focus on expanding the company’s Web3 experiences and making them more accessible to the public.

Wad, who has more than 30 years’ experience working for companies including Facebook and Google, will be responsible for engineering Web3 services and expanding the engineering team. He will also focus on “ensuring the continued security, stability, and liquidity of the exchange while meeting the evolving regulatory compliance requirements across regions where the platform is available,” an April 1 announcement from Binance says.

"We are working on many Web3 experiences and solutions that will be transformative to billions of people, starting with the freedom of money," Wad said in a statement.

Kamat, who also worked at Google and the call blocking app Hiya, will be in charge of heading up Binance’s product strategy. He will “guide the team to build products that will bring mass adoption to crypto and lower the barrier to entry to Web3 technology.”

“Our goal is to bring the benefits of Web3 technology to the masses by making the product simple enough that anyone in the world can use them, including those who are new to it,” Kamat said in a statement.

Binance recently announced that it would partner with the Grammy Awards to bring “web3 solutions” to music fans.