Coinbase and 21Shares Announce Key Executive Appointments
Coinbase’s former chief architect, Rob Witoff, has returned to the exchange as its head of platform. Witoff previously led security and infrastructure from 2014 to 2017 before founding cold storage company Unit 410. Emilie Choi, Coinbase Chief Operating Officer, announced his appointment in a blog post.
Choi stated that Witoff is dedicated to crypto, developer productivity, and enhancing user experience.
In related news, 21.co appointed Russell Barlow as CEO of its newly formed business unit, 21Shares. This change includes two distinct units: 21Shares and 21.co Technologies. Barlow will report to co-founders Hany Rashwan and Ophelia Snyder, who are now co-chairs of 21Shares. Barlow has a background as the global head of alternative and multi-asset investments at abrdn. Other former abrdn executives, Duncan Moir and Edel Bashir, were named president and COO of 21Shares, respectively. Andres Valencia, with 21Shares since 2021, is now executive vice president of investment management.
Chainalysis announced that Jonathan Levin, co-founder and chief strategy officer, has become the new CEO, expressing commitment to delivering data and risk solutions while exploring new market opportunities.
Alice Tregunna was appointed chief compliance officer at a life insurance company denominated in bitcoin, transitioning from her role as compliance and financial crime lead at EY.
Austin Federa, strategy head at the Solana Foundation, will depart to establish DoubleZero, a network of fiber and subsea cables aimed at creating a “new internet.”
In case you missed it:
- xMoney Global appointed Dr. Greg Siourounis, former managing director at Sui Foundation, as CEO during Thanksgiving week.
- Sol Strategies added crypto investor Anthony Pompliano as an adviser and applied to list on Nasdaq.
- Philipp Wassibauer joined CrunchDAO as chief technology officer after serving as director of engineering at Dune Analytics.