Original Title: 30 key crypto hires, moves and exits: July 2025
Original Author: Tim Copeland, The Block
Original Translation: Felix, PANews
The hiring momentum in July remained steady, with cryptocurrency companies continuing to recruit experienced operators from traditional finance and the broader tech sector. Multiple teams made strategic executive additions in areas such as trading, revenue, legal, and growth, reflecting their efforts to formalize operations and prepare for a more regulated market environment. The hiring activities spanned fields including DeFi, stablecoins, on-chain infrastructure, and RWA platforms.
A noticeable hiring surge emerged around stablecoins and tokenized asset initiatives. Bastion hired two senior executives responsible for finance and revenue functions as it builds its infrastructure regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services. With treasury and tokenized products becoming increasingly popular among fintech and asset management firms, Veda and the Stellar Development Foundation also brought in new executives to lead their legal, growth, and marketing departments. Chainlink, NEAR, and ReserveOne 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 Erica Williams, chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), while appointing a new director of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Meanwhile, some well-known cryptocurrency operators transitioned to advisory roles or left for new opportunities, indicating a slow but ongoing personnel "shuffle" as the industry adapts to changing compliance requirements, market structures, and capital demands.
New Hires
· Bastion: Vince Tejada joined as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Strategic Finance. He previously worked at Ripple, where he helped lead global payments and stablecoin projects, including the launch of RLUSD. Early in his career, he worked at JPMorgan and IBM.
· Bastion: Jared Klee joined as Chief Revenue Officer. He was previously the Head of Sales at Vouch, where he launched the company's Web3 business. He co-founded Triple Point Liquidity and held various positions at IBM, including leading the digital asset business for IBM Blockchain.
· Blockdaemon: Alex Zinder joined as Chief Product Officer. He was previously the Chief Product Officer at Reya Labs.
· CEA Industries: David Namdar joined as Chief Executive Officer. He was previously a co-founder of Galaxy Digital.
· Chainlink Labs: Jordan Calinoff joined as Head of Stablecoins and RWA. 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 Head of Research 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 as the company's first "CT Leader." Previously, he was the Head of Social Media and Community at Binance, claiming to have added 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 Pocket Protector was acquired, where he served as CEO and co-founder. Kaiser Kinbote also joined dYdX as Head of Growth, previously responsible for strategy and growth at Pocket Protector.
· Ethereum Foundation: David Wals joined as Head of Enterprise. He was previously the Head of Ecosystem at Alluvial.
· G-Knot: Wes Kaplan joined as Chief Executive Officer. He was previously the CEO of Cointelegraph.
· GSR: Frank Chaparro joined as Head of Content and Special Projects. He was previously a contributing editor at The Block and host of The Scoop.
· M0: Thomas Scott joined as General Counsel. He was previously the Chief Legal Officer at Tools for Humanity.
· M11 Fund: Thomas Rep joined as Portfolio Manager. He was previously the Head of Trading and Business Development at a cryptocurrency platform in the Netherlands.
· Multicoin Capital: Brian Strugats joined as Chief Trader. He was previously the Trading Head at FalconX and held senior positions at Glenhill Capital, XN, Balantrove, and Fortress.
· NEAR Protocol: George Xian Zeng joined as Chief Growth Officer. He was previously the Chief Operating Officer at dYdX.
· Paxos: Linnea Perelli-Minetti joined as Head of Global Dollar Network. She was previously the Head of Product and Artist Relations at TIDAL (Block).
· ReserveOne: Sebastian Bea joined as President and Head of Investments. He was previously the 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 Chief Executive Officer. He was previously the President of CoinDesk.
· SharpLink: Joseph Chalom began serving as Co-CEO on July 24. He was previously a senior executive at BlackRock, where he led digital finance projects, 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 was previously the Head of Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Assets at PayPal. Jason Karsh also joined as Chief Marketing Officer. He was previously the Head of Business at Block and 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 Veda's legal, compliance, and policy efforts.
Promotions
· PayPal: Frank Keller's responsibilities expanded to lead blockchain, cryptocurrency, and digital currency business.
· SharpLink: Rob Phythian transitioned from CEO to President while continuing to serve as a board member of the company.
· Uniswap Labs: Mary-Catherine Lader transitioned from President and Chief Operating Officer to Advisor while preparing for new business development.
Exits
· Variant: Derek Walkush left the company after three years to take on an operational role at a portfolio company.
· Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: Jonathan Gould was appointed as the new director. He was previously a partner at Jones Day law firm.
· Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB): Following the resignation request from SEC Chair Paul Atkins, Erica Williams will step down as chair on July 22.
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