Key crypto hires, exits and moves: February 2023

Crypto firms hired several high-level executives in February, as the industry weathers the long crypto winter and navigates the changing regulatory environment.  

Silvergate Bank named a new president, while Chainalysis cut dozens of jobs and a half-dozen companies saw chief financial officer shifts.

Hires

• The Bitcoin Association appointed Cyrille Albrecht as managing director, Ewa Merino as director of finance and operations and Marcin Zarakowski as a new member of the association’s executive committee.
• Andrew Grant joined Ketsal, the web3 legal and consulting firm, as a partner. Grant previously worked at the law firm DLA Piper. 
• Ian Hurst was named the new head of Europe at Lukka, the institutional crypto data and software provider. Hurst previously served on the firm’s advisory board.
• George Gvazava was named the new chief crypto officer at Bank of Georgia.
• Eric Johansson joined as the news editor at DL News, covering cryptocurrency, decentralized finance and NFTs.
• Juliette Le Drogou was named the new policy officer for digital finance and innovation at Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) in France.
• Bianca Posterli joined web3 company Doodles as head of brand marketing.
• Crypto custody tech provider Metaco hired Peter DeMeo, a former IBM digital asset specialist, as chief product officer. Metaco also hired former IBM lead architect Angel Nunez Mencias as chief customer officer, former Accenture executive Katrin Koller as head of advisory, former PayPal and Unbound Security executive Rebecca Aspler as head of product and Mei Li Powell, who previously worked at Citi, as head of marketing.
• BCB Group appointed Jean-Jacques Le Bon as chief strategy officer and Ian Moore as appointed as chief banking officer.
• CoinDCX appointed Flipkart executive Sridhar Govardhan as chief information security officer.
• SEBA Bank appointed Amy Yu as APAC CEO to drive regional growth.
• Crypto asset risk management firm Elliptic appointed Barry Chubrik as chief financial officer and Sophie Froment as chief people officer.
• Rebecca Rettig joined Polygon Labs as chief policy officer. Rettig is a former board member of Silvergate Bank and was chief legal and policy officer at Aave Companies.
• Noah Perlman was named the new chief compliance officer at Binance. He was previously chief operating officer of Gemini Trust. 
• Tassat Group appointed Zain Saidin as chief operating officer.
• Web3 company OneOf added Steve Cooper, former CEO of Warner Music Group and MGM, to its board. Lewis Bateman joined the board of Spirit Blockchain Capital Inc., replacing Anthony Zelen. Bateman also joins as director and chairman of Spirit Blockchain AG, the company’s subsidiary company in Switzerland. Erich Perroulaz was appointed interim chief financial officer of the company following the departure of Meetul Patel.
• Asiff Hirji, the former president and chief operating officer at Coinbase, was hired as the new president of MoonPay. The company also hired Lindsay Haswell as chief legal officer. 
• Peer-to-peer digital asset lending platform CLST appointed Roshan Robert as president and chief operating officer.
• Crypto mining and data center operator CryptoStar appointed Jing Peng as chief financial officer and named Aurelio Useche and Christopher Malone to the company's board of directors. Warren Lorenz and Aly Madhavji resigned from the board.
• Andrew "Zyori" Campbell was hired by Laguna Games as product and market growth lead, after serving as program lead for e-sports and content creators at Axie Infinity.
• Decentralized, multi-blockchain web3 platform ReelStar appointed Marc Robinson as head of Asia. Robinson previously ran Coinbase APAC.
• Singapore-based digital asset platform MetaComp named John Kang as chief financial officer. 
• NFT Tech appointed Mark Leung as chief financial officer, succeeding Frank Guo.

Exits

• Alex Appleton left his roles as chief financial officer and executive director at Argo. The company hired an executive search firm to help select his replacement. 
• Chainalysis cut 40-50 jobs, saying it was reorganizing to adjust to the crypto market. The cuts primarily affected the Chainalysis “go-to-market,” and other employees received new roles and responsibilities.
• Colton Sakamoto stepped down as CEO of Inflection Points, the company he co-founded.
• Jakub Zakrzewski left Kraken Digital Asset Exchange after three years in managing director and general manager roles.
• The Vietnam Blockchain Association approved the dismissal of Vice Chairman Huy Nguyen, Standing Committee member Pham Minh Tri and Executive Committee member Pham Toan Thang, after the three were accused of violating the organization’s charter and causing “internal disunity.”
• Hassan Bassiri left crypto hedge fund Arca, after serving as vice president of portfolio management.

Internal moves

• Joseph DePaolo, the co-founder, president and CEO of Silvergate Bank, will move into a senior adviser role and keep his CEO title. Chief Operating Officer Eric Howell will succeed DePaolo as president of the bank and will later be named CEO. 
• Caroline Butler was appointed CEO of digital assets for BNY Mellon. Butler was previously CEO of custody services.

Open roles

• QuickNode is hiring for nearly a dozen roles, including software engineers.