Rich Rosenblum stepped down as co-chief executive officer of GSR on October 23, 2024. The crypto market maker said so in a post on X, four months after it named him co-CEO alongside Xin Song on June 26, 20241. That post also said GSR's chief technology officer, John MacDonald, would leave the firm, The Block reported2.
The second CEO exit at GSR on the record since 2024
Every move CryptoLately has verified there, by the day it became public
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| June 26, 2024 | Song became Co-CEO. Xin Song was named Co-Chief Executive Officer of GSR |
| June 26, 2024 | Palmstierna left as CEO. Jakob Palmstierna left as Chief Executive Officer of GSR |
| Oct. 23, 2024 | Rosenblum left as Co-CEO. Rich Rosenblum left as Co-Chief Executive Officer of GSR |
20 CEO exits on the record in 2024
CEO exits CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2024: 20
- 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 | 7 |
| 2020 | 9 |
| 2021 | 5 |
| 2022 | 18 |
| 2023 | 11 |
| 2024 | 20 |
| 2025 | 20 |
| 2026 | 18 |
A co-founder's exit
Rosenblum co-founded GSR with Cristian Gil in 2013. GSR's own post credited him directly for the firm's growth over more than a decade. “Today, we are announcing that Rich Rosenblum has stepped down from his position as Co-CEO of GSR to pursue new entrepreneurial opportunities,” the company wrote on X. “As a co-founder, Rich has been instrumental in the firm's remarkable growth and success over the last decade.”1 The Block reported that GSR planned to stay in contact with Rosenblum after he left2.
Why would a co-founder leave a title he had held for only four months? GSR gave one reason in its own statement: Rosenblum wanted to pursue new entrepreneurial ventures1. The Block placed the exit inside a longer run of change at the firm. Its report called the move "another major executive shakeup for GSR this year" and traced it back to the June 26 restructuring that had made Rosenblum co-CEO in the first place2.
The leadership MacDonald and Rosenblum left behind
MacDonald had joined GSR in January 2022. He had served as managing director and CTO for Europe at Citadel Securities, The Block reported2. Rosenblum's exit left GSR with Xin Song as its sole named chief executive. That came four months after GSR had split the job between two people on June 26, 20241. GSR's investment portfolio by then included the layer-1 developer Monad Labs and LimeWire, the former file-sharing service turned NFT project, The Block noted.
What came next
Song still held the CEO title alone in May 2026. CoinDesk reported on May 5, 2026, that Standard Chartered's venture arm, SC Ventures, had invested in GSR at a valuation above $1 billion, GSR's first outside stake since Rosenblum and Gil founded the firm3. The announcement quoted only Song, who described GSR's strategy on his own, as its sole chief executive. “Institutional digital asset markets are maturing rapidly, and the firms best positioned to lead will be those that combine deep capital markets expertise with trusted banking infrastructure,” Song told CoinDesk. GSR had also acquired Autonomous and Architech for $57 million in March 2026 to build out its tokenization business under Song's leadership.
Sources
- GSR, "GSR on X: announcing Rich Rosenblum's departure as Co-CEO," X, October 23, 2024, https://x.com/GSR_io/status/1849138871876923579
- MK Manoylov, "GSR co-CEO Rich Rosenblum and its CTO leave the crypto market maker," The Block, October 24, 2024, https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2024-10-24-gsr-co-ceo-rich-rosenblum-and-its-cto-leave-the-crypto-market-maker-322956
- Olivier Acuna, "Standard Chartered expands further into crypto with stake in GSR at $1 billion valuation," CoinDesk, May 5, 2026, https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/05/05/standard-chartered-expands-further-into-crypto-with-stake-in-gsr-at-usd1-billion-valuation