21.co named Duncan Moir president of 21Shares in a release GlobeNewswire carried on December 3, 20241. Moir joined from abrdn. The release said he had led that firm's crypto and blockchain strategy. Ledger Insights reported on December 5, 2024, that Moir's arrival came alongside his colleague Russell Barlow2. Barlow became chief executive.
Executive hires CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2024: 39
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025, 2026
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 11 |
| 2020 | 12 |
| 2021 | 27 |
| 2022 | 37 |
| 2023 | 20 |
| 2024 | 39 |
| 2025 | 59 |
| 2026 | 45 |
Executive hires CryptoLately has verified in 2024, by the sector of the company
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Layer 1s & Infrastructure | 8 |
| Institutional Custody & Asset Management | 7 |
| Trading Venues & Brokerage | 6 |
| Capital Markets & Treasury | 3 |
| DeFi Protocols | 2 |
| AI and Crypto | 1 |
| Stablecoins & Payments | 1 |
| Bitcoin & Mining | 1 |
The move
GlobeNewswire's release said Moir brought “a deep understanding of the crypto space and experience in working with institutional investors” from his time at abrdn1. Hany Rashwan, 21Shares' co-founder, spoke about the split rather than the hire. “This transition formalizes a structure we've been building toward over the past year, allowing each division to grow independently,” Rashwan said in the release naming Moir.
Ledger Insights sized up the firm Moir left. The outlet reported that abrdn managed almost $650 billion in assets, one of the largest totals of any UK asset manager2. Moir's move came as 21Shares itself was growing. Its assets under management had risen by two thirds since mid-2024, past $10 billion, Ledger Insights reported. The outlet tied that run partly to the broader climb in crypto prices during the same period.
21Shares before and after
Moir's appointment arrived in the same December 3, 2024 release as a restructuring. GlobeNewswire's release split 21Shares from a new sister firm, 21.co Technologies, with both under the 21.co holding company1. He joined a leadership team built mostly from abrdn alumni. Barlow took the chief executive role, Edel Bashir became chief operating officer, and Moir became president, the release said. Co-founders Rashwan and Ophelia Snyder moved into co-chair roles at the same time, shifting their attention to 21.co Technologies and its work on tokenized assets.
What came next
On October 22, 2025, less than 11 months after Moir's hire, FalconX agreed to buy 21Shares, FalconX's release on PR Newswire said3. FalconX is an institutional digital asset prime brokerage. 21Shares managed more than $11 billion in assets across 55 listed products as of September 30, 2025. 21Shares founders Rashwan and Snyder spoke in that release about the eight years since the firm's founding. “We have scaled to reach millions of customers in every corner of the globe and brought them into crypto with our products and our research,” they said. The release said 21Shares would stay independently managed under the FalconX umbrella. FalconX's release described Barlow's chief executive role continuing, and it left Moir's presidency unaddressed.
Sources
- GlobeNewswire, "21.co Announces Plans for New Operating Structure; 21Shares and 21.co Technologies to Become Separate Entities," December 3, 2024, https://www.manilatimes.net/2024/12/03/tmt-newswire/globenewswire/21co-announces-plans-for-new-operating-structure-21shares-and-21co-technologies-to-become-separate-entities/2015162
- "21shares lures asset manager abrdn's core digital asset team," Ledger Insights, December 5, 2024, https://www.ledgerinsights.com/21shares-lures-asset-manager-abrdns-core-digital-asset-team/
- FalconX, "FalconX Acquires Leading ETP Provider 21shares, Accelerating the Convergence of Digital Assets and Traditional Finance," PR Newswire, October 22, 2025, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMigwJBVV95cUxPTEhiWUtoOGUtbzN6QlJXN1B4VTdkZ1RuWDUxc1RxM3Nzc0hSQmdoZ3pRNVAzell4M0VVZGV0QndJaGl0TmNDM1k1LTJlWkJmR2ZMUTV4ZUZJNHprQWVUOUthUzVfbzdodzJrT0IyR29mSHB4YURZTkRUdVpETTE1T055WmltU1I0b082RnpPdnFsVkFCSXNzNVNNN0R2ZU1xOXJFY0VuNzNmWURxQ0pkeU5aR192LVZwT29GTFdVTGxWV1BJeEk3bExnZ2pNUkR0Y0ZuTElmT1FUcDFjWmFKLVdQVnU4M012b1ZxbXpPWlcteFNrbDNQR1ZsbUJXbnBkb3Zn?oc=5