Original title: 30 key crypto hires, moves and exits: July 2025
Original author: Tim Copeland, The Block
Original translation: Felix, PANews
Hiring momentum remained stable in July as cryptocurrency companies continued to recruit experienced operations personnel from traditional finance and the broader tech field. Several teams made strategic executive additions in trading, revenue, legal, and growth areas, reflecting their efforts to formalize operations and prepare for a more regulated market environment. Hiring activities spanned across DeFi, stablecoins, on-chain infrastructure, and RWA platforms.
There has been a noticeable hiring boom around stablecoins and tokenized asset programs. Bastion has newly hired two senior executives responsible for finance and revenue functions as part of building its infrastructure regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services. As treasury and tokenized products become increasingly popular in fintech companies and asset management firms, Veda and Stellar Development Foundation have also hired new executives to lead legal, growth, and marketing departments. Chainlink, NEAR, and ReserveOne have continued this trend, with new hires focusing on ecosystem expansion and institutional positioning.
In terms of regulation, personnel changes were more pronounced this month. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested the resignation of the chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), Erica Williams, while appointing a new Comptroller. Meanwhile, some well-known cryptocurrency operators are transitioning to advisory roles or leaving for new opportunities, indicating a slow but ongoing personnel 'shuffle' as the industry adapts to evolving compliance requirements, market structures, and capital demands.
New appointment
· Bastion: Vince Tejada joins as Chief Financial and Strategic Officer. He previously worked at Ripple, helping to lead global payments and stablecoin projects, including involvement in launching RLUSD. Early in his career, he worked at JPMorgan and IBM.
· Bastion: Jared Klee joins 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 several positions at IBM, including leading IBM Blockchain's digital asset business.
· Blockdaemon: Alex Zinder joins as Chief Product Officer. He previously served as Chief Product Officer at Reya Labs.
· CEA Industries: David Namdar joins as CEO. He was previously a co-founder of Galaxy Digital.
· Chainlink Labs: Jordan Calinoff joins as Head of Stablecoins and RWA Department. He previously served as 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 joins Coinbase as the company's first 'CT Leader'. Previously, he was Head of Social Media and Community at Binance, claiming to have added 20 million fans for the company across multiple platforms. He will work closely with Coinbase's executive team to lead crypto-native marketing efforts.
· dYdX: Eddie Zhang joins dYdX as President after Pocket Protector was acquired, where he served as CEO and co-founder. Kaiser Kinbote also joins dYdX as Head of Growth, having been responsible for strategy and growth at Pocket Protector.
· Ethereum Foundation: David Wals joins as Head of Enterprise. He previously served as Head of Ecosystem at Alluvial.
· G-Knot: Wes Kaplan joins as CEO. He previously served as CEO of Cointelegraph.
· GSR: Frank Chaparro joins and serves as Head of Content and Special Projects. He was previously a contributing editor at The Block and host of The Scoop.
· M0: Thomas Scott joins as General Counsel. He previously served as Chief Legal Officer at Tools for Humanity.
· M11 Fund: Thomas Rep joins and serves as portfolio manager. Previously, he was the Head of Trading and Business Development at a cryptocurrency platform in the Netherlands.
· Multicoin Capital: Brian Strugats joins and serves 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 joins and serves as Chief Growth Officer. He was previously the Chief Operating Officer at dYdX.
· Paxos: Linnea Perelli-Minetti joins and serves as Head of Global Dollar Network. She previously served as Head of Product and Artist at TIDAL (Block).
· ReserveOne: Sebastian Bea joins as President and Chief Investment Officer. He previously served as President of Coinbase Asset Management.
· Robot Ventures: Anirudh Pai joins and serves as Investment Partner. He was a partner at Dragonfly.
· RWA Summit: Foster Wright joins and serves as CEO. He was previously the president of CoinDesk.
· SharpLink: Joseph Chalom has been appointed Co-CEO effective July 24. He previously served as a senior executive at BlackRock, leading digital finance projects including the launch of the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA).
· Stellar Development Foundation: Jose Fernandez da Ponte joins the foundation as President and Chief Growth Officer. He previously led the blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital assets division at PayPal. Jason Karsh also joins as Chief Marketing Officer. He previously worked as Business Lead at Block and held a position at Blockchain.com.
· Veda: TuongVy Le joins 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 Veda's legal, compliance, and policy efforts.
Promotion
· PayPal: Frank Keller's responsibilities have expanded to lead blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital currency business.
· SharpLink: Rob Phythian will transition from CEO to President while continuing as a member of the company's board.
· Uniswap Labs: Mary-Catherine Lader transitions from President and COO to Advisor while preparing for new business development.
Exit
· Variant: Derek Walkush leaves after three years at the company to take on an operational role at a portfolio company.
· Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: Jonathan Gould has been appointed as the new Comptroller. He was a partner at Jones Day law firm.
· Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB): Following the resignation request of SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, Erica Williams will step down as chair on July 22.
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