Written by: Tim Copeland, The Block
Translated by: Felix, PANews
Hiring momentum remained steady in July, with cryptocurrency companies continuing to attract experienced operators from traditional finance and the broader tech sector. Multiple teams made strategic executive additions in trading, revenue, legal, and growth, reflecting their efforts to formalize operations and prepare for a more regulated market environment. Hiring activities spanned areas including DeFi, stablecoins, on-chain infrastructure, and RWA platforms.
There has been a noticeable surge in hiring around stablecoins and tokenized asset initiatives. Bastion hired two senior executives responsible for financial and revenue functions as it builds its infrastructure regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services. As treasury and tokenized products become increasingly popular among fintech companies and asset management firms, Veda and the Stellar Development Foundation also hired new executives to lead their legal, growth, and marketing departments. Chainlink, NEAR, and ReserveOne have also followed this trend, with new hires focusing on ecosystem expansion and institutional positioning.
In terms of regulation, this month's personnel changes are more pronounced. The SEC requested the resignation of PCAOB Chairman Erica Williams, while a new Comptroller of the Currency was appointed. Meanwhile, several prominent cryptocurrency operators transitioned to consulting roles or left for other opportunities, indicating a gradual but ongoing personnel 'shuffle' as the industry adapts to changing compliance requirements, market structures, and capital demands.
New Appointement
Bastion: Vince Tejada joined as Head of Finance and Strategic Finance. He previously worked at Ripple, helping to lead global payments and stablecoin projects, including launching RLUSD. Earlier in his career, he worked at JPMorgan and IBM.
Bastion: Jared Klee joined as Head of Revenue. He previously served as Head of Sales at Vouch, where he launched the company's Web3 business. He co-founded Triple Point Liquidity and earlier held multiple roles at IBM, including leading IBM Blockchain's digital asset business.
Blockdaemon: Alex Zinder joined as Chief Product Officer. He previously served as Chief Product Officer at Reya Labs.
CEA Industries: David Namdar joined as CEO. He was previously a co-founder of Galaxy Digital.
Chainlink Labs: Jordan Calinoff joined as the head of the stablecoin and RWA department. He was previously the Vice President of Strategy and Revenue at Horizen Labs.
Coinbase: Acquired Opyn through a talent acquisition, bringing in CEO Andrew Leone and Research Head Joe Clark. The Opyn team is known for pioneering DeFi options, inventing Power Perpetuals, and launching Squeeth. This marks Coinbase's sixth acquisition this year.
Coinbase: Alex joined Coinbase to become the company's first 'CT Leader'. Previously, he was Head of Social Media and Community at Binance, claiming responsibility for adding 20 million followers for the company across multiple platforms. He will work closely with Coinbase's executive team to lead crypto-native marketing efforts.
dYdX: Eddie Zhang joined dYdX as President after the acquisition of Pocket Protector, where he was the CEO and co-founder. Kaiser Kinbote also joined dYdX as the Growth Lead, previously responsible for strategy and growth at Pocket Protector.
Ethereum Foundation: David Wals joined as Head of Enterprise. He previously served as Head of Ecosystem at Alluvial.
G-Knot: Wes Kaplan joined as CEO. He previously served as CEO of Cointelegraph.
GSR: Frank Chaparro joined as Head of Content and Special Projects. He was previously a contributing editor and host of The Scoop at The Block.
M0: Thomas Scott joined as General Counsel. He previously served as Chief Legal Officer at Tools for Humanity.
M11 Fund: Thomas Rep joined as Portfolio Manager. He previously was the Head of Trading and Business Development at a Dutch cryptocurrency platform.
Multicoin Capital: Brian Strugats joined as Chief Trader. He previously served as Head of Trading at FalconX and held senior positions at Glenhill Capital, XN, Balantrove, and Fortress.
NEAR Protocol: George Xian Zeng joined as Chief Growth Officer. He previously served as COO at dYdX.
Paxos: Linnea Perelli-Minetti joined as the head of the Global Dollar Network. She previously served as the head of products and artists at TIDAL (Block).
ReserveOne: Sebastian Bea joined as President and Head of Investments. He previously served as President of Coinbase Asset Management.
Robot Ventures: Anirudh Pai joined as Investment Partner. He was previously a partner at Dragonfly.
RWA Summit: Foster Wright joined as CEO. He previously served as President of CoinDesk.
SharpLink: Joseph Chalom will serve as Co-CEO starting July 24. He previously held senior positions at BlackRock, leading digital finance initiatives, including the launch of the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA).
Stellar Development Foundation: Jose Fernandez da Ponte joined the foundation as President and Chief Growth Officer. He previously led blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital assets at PayPal. Jason Karsh also joined as Chief Marketing Officer. He previously served as Business Lead at Block and has worked at Blockchain.com.
Veda: TuongVy Le joined as General Counsel. She has extensive legal and policy experience from the SEC, Anchorage Digital, and Bain Capital's crypto division. As Veda expands its treasury infrastructure platform, she will lead legal, compliance, and policy efforts.
Promotion
PayPal: Frank Keller's responsibilities expanded to lead blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital currency operations.
SharpLink: Rob Phythian will transition from CEO to President, while continuing as a board member.
Uniswap Labs: Mary-Catherine Lader transitioned from President and COO to Advisor while preparing for new business development.
Exit
Variant: Derek Walkush left the company after three years to take an operational role at a portfolio company.
Comptroller of the Currency: Jonathan Gould was appointed as the Comptroller of the Currency. He was previously a partner at the law firm Jones Day.
The PCAOB: In response to the resignation request from SEC Chair Paul Atkins, Erica Williams will step down as Chair on July 22.