50 key crypto hires, exits and moves: April 2025

Crypto firms continued to staff up last month, with a steady stream of hires across legal, policy, growth, and ecosystem roles. While crypto prices remain muted, teams are still making selective additions — particularly in functions tied to revenue, compliance, and user acquisition.

We also saw rising movement in the policy and advocacy world, with several former regulators and policy experts stepping into new roles. This reflects how central the regulatory conversation has become. At the same time, pseudonymous builders and creators continue to take up formal positions, signaling a broader shift in how crypto-native experience is valued.

April’s hiring activity suggests that teams are laying the foundations for the next cycle — building out distribution, legal infrastructure, and communications muscle while prices and sentiment gradually recover.

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Hires

• Miller Whitehouse-Levine has left the crypto policy lobbying firm the DeFi Education Fund — though he will remain on its board — to start the Solana Policy Institute. 
• The new Solana Policy Institute has made a string of major hires, including former Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith, Colin McLaren, previously Engagement Director at the Cedar Innovation Fund, and Rachel Green Horn, formerly head of marketing at Filecoin.
• Paul Atkins, a longtime crypto advocate and former SEC commissioner, has been officially sworn in as the new Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His appointment marks a significant shift in regulatory tone, with many in the industry expecting a more open stance toward digital assets and decentralized finance.
• Joe Salama has been appointed Chief Compliance Officer at Coinbase. Salama previously served as Coinbase’s Global Head of Litigation and has a background in both corporate law and government enforcement.
• Crypto exchange Kraken has hired Cynthia Del Pozo as General Manager for North America, with a focus on Canada. The company says it has doubled its Canadian team over the past two years.
• Jacob Wittman has joined the Plasma Foundation as General Counsel, where he will lead the organization’s global policy efforts around stablecoin adoption.
• Emre Tekisalp has joined Uniswap as Chief of Staff. Tekisalp previously led O(1) Labs, helped launch Mina Protocol, and held product roles at Coinbase. In a post announcing the move, he reflected on a year-long sabbatical and said he was excited to work alongside the Uniswap team to “unlock universal ownership and exchange.”
• Salman Banaei has joined Plume Network as General Counsel. He previously served as Head of Public Policy at Uniswap Labs and was a Senior Special Counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Marco Santori, former Chief Legal Officer at Kraken, has joined Pantera Capital as a General Partner. Santori is a veteran crypto legal expert who previously held senior roles at Blockchain.com and Cooley LLP, and has been a prominent figure in shaping U.S. crypto policy.
• OKX has appointed Linda Lacewell, former Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, as its new Chief Legal Officer.
• Jito Foundation has named Thomas Uhm as Chief Commercial Officer. Uhm previously worked at Jane Street Capital and brings institutional trading experience aligned with Jito’s focus on Solana staking and MEV.
• Diana Zhang, formerly COO at BlockTower Capital, has been appointed Chief Operating Officer at Grayscale. Zhang brings operational and fund management experience to the role as Grayscale continues to broaden its product suite and institutional reach.
• Andrew Dempsey, formerly of Wellington Management and Fidelity, has joined Borderless Capital as a partner to lead institutional capital formation, as digital asset managers increasingly seek to bridge traditional finance.
• Stavros Psyllos has joined Cryptopay as Chief Commercial Officer. He will be responsible for driving expansion strategies, with a focus on targeting CFD brokers.
• The pseudonymous builder 0xWenMoon has joined Kaito AI as Head of Ecosystem and Special Projects. Known for user-centric product development, WenMoon will focus on tools that help crypto founders navigate the attention economy.
• Another pseudonymous operator, 0xG00gly, has joined the Plasma Foundation. With a background in traditional finance and stints at Uniswap and Gnosis, Googly will help develop Plasma — an EVM-compatible Bitcoin sidechain focused on stablecoin infrastructure.
• Maximilian Crown, co-founder of MoonPay, has been appointed CEO of the TON Foundation. Crown previously served as COO and CFO at MoonPay and will retain a seat on the board there.
• Maartje Bus, formerly Head of Research at Messari, has been appointed President of the Medici Network, according to Decrypt.
• Former CoinDesk journalist Danny Nelson has joined Bitwise Asset Management’s research team. He’ll focus on analyzing Solana, Ethereum, and Layer 2 networks.

Promotions & Advisory

• Following Whitehouse-Levine’s departure from the DeFi Education Fund, the firm’s Chief Legal Officer, Amanda Tuminelli, has also assumed the role of executive director.
• The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has re-appointed CEO Nikhil Rathi for a second five-year term, reflecting a push for regulatory consistency as the UK scales its digital asset policy efforts.
• Kevin Weil, Chief Product Officer at OpenAI, has joined Circle as an advisor. CEO Jeremy Allaire announced the move, citing Weil’s experience scaling platforms at Twitter, Instagram, Novi (Facebook), and now OpenAI.
• Zac Prince, founder and former CEO of BlockFi, has joined Galaxy as a Managing Director. Prince brings deep operational and institutional knowledge from his time building BlockFi into a major crypto lender.
• In a surprising geopolitical shift, Pakistan has brought on former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao as a crypto policy adviser — a stark contrast to India’s more cautious stance.
• Andrew Cuomo, former Governor of New York, has reportedly joined OKX in an advisory capacity following the exchange’s $505 million federal settlement. Cuomo’s involvement is expected to focus on regulatory strategy and political engagement in the U.S.
• Dana White, president of the UFC, has joined VeChain as a strategic advisor. The appointment follows VeChain’s long-term sponsorship of UFC events and reflects a deepening relationship between the blockchain project and the global sports brand.

Exits

• Jonathan Hugh quietly stepped down from his role as CFO at Zodia Custody earlier this year, according to CoinDesk. Last month, COO Samuel Howe also left for a role in traditional finance.
• Mauricio Beugelmans has departed as Chief Legal Officer of OKX. He was succeeded by Linda Lacewell, who had served on the exchange’s board since 2023.
• Christine Kim has left her role at Galaxy to pursue solo entrepreneurship. She plans to continue her protocol research and governance coverage — expanding beyond Ethereum — under her own independent brand.