Maple Finance named Katherine Kirkpatrick its general counsel on February 7, 2022. The lending platform had already written more than $500 million in loans across four pools, and Maple Finance announced Quinn Thompson as head of growth on that same date12. Kirkpatrick came from King & Spalding, where she was a partner.
37 executive hires on the record in 2022
Executive hires CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2022: 37
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 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 |
Trading Venues & Brokerage led executive hires in 2022, with six
Executive hires CryptoLately has verified in 2022, 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 |
|---|---|
| Trading Venues & Brokerage | 6 |
| Capital Markets & Treasury | 4 |
| Bitcoin & Mining | 4 |
| Layer 1s & Infrastructure | 3 |
| Institutional Custody & Asset Management | 3 |
| Stablecoins & Payments | 2 |
| DeFi Protocols | 2 |
| Wallets & Consumer Apps | 2 |
The move
Kirkpatrick had co-chaired two groups at King & Spalding, Financial Services and Fintech, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrency1. Her practice there covered government investigations and compliance work. Clients ranged both in and out of crypto. She framed the jump to Maple as a bet on where finance was heading. “I believe DeFi is the frontier and the future of financial services, and I'm excited to join Maple to contribute to this growth. Maple is committed to advancing the efficiency of capital markets, and I'm humbled to help advance this mission,” Kirkpatrick said.
Sid Powell, Maple's chief executive and co-founder, tied the hire to the lenders Maple wanted to attract. “As the number of TradFi institutions participating in DeFi continues to grow, it has become ever more important to have experienced Counsel as part of Maple's growth to help navigate regulatory obligations. The legal solutions Katherine develops will support the entry of new multi-billion dollar asset managers to Maple's ecosystem,” Powell said1.
Before and after at Maple
Maple Finance launched in April 2021. By February 7, 2022, when Kirkpatrick joined, Maple Finance had already facilitated more than $500 million in loans across four pools, Finance Magnates reported2. Maple Finance set a target of $5 billion in loan volume for 2022, a goal built on courting the asset managers Powell named1. Kirkpatrick's mandate covered "all legal aspects of Maple's operations," the company said, as the platform pushed to register more lenders on its undercollateralized loan pools.
What came next
Maple Finance severed ties with Orthogonal Trading on December 5, 2022. That was ten months after Kirkpatrick's hire. The trading firm had missed a $10 million stablecoin repayment, and Maple said Orthogonal had been "misrepresenting its financial position," CoinDesk reported3. Maple's statement did more than announce the split. “Misrepresentation like this is in violation of Maple's agreements, and all appropriate legal avenues to recover funds will be pursued including arbitration or litigation as necessary,” the company said. Orthogonal had borrowed from two of Maple's five lending pools and managed a third. Its default followed FTX's collapse the month before, CoinDesk reported.
Sources
- Maple Finance, "General Counsel and Head of Growth join Maple," Maple Finance (Medium), February 7, 2022, https://maplefinance.medium.com/general-counsel-and-head-of-growth-join-maple-3574063b4be6
- Nicholas Otieno, "Maple Finance Hires Katherine Kirkpatrick and Quinn Thompson to Continue Business Growth," Finance Magnates, February 7, 2022, https://www.financemagnates.com/executives/maple-finance-hires-katherine-kirkpatrick-and-quinn-thompson-to-continue-business-growth/
- Krisztian Sandor, "FTX Contagion Spreads as Orthogonal Trading Gets Default Notice for $36M Debt on Maple Finance," CoinDesk, December 5, 2022, https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi1gFBVV95cUxQcEdEajlFZXBmbzdVVExTM0FKRXZDTFF0am1sSmNyUEEwcWRNVGtDWmltOV9VazhGNHZEbFV5blNLc1k1QnBoN2tDMklENkRpZHRfSW5FTmVpeFNJaEM5OWJzM0h6MGJ4RkV3UER1aFY2YzNQU0JCaHd6NjRRZklObWs1Tng5dmU5b2JaSzZfdUFwOVVVZFpZNUdub05fbUFGSy1Kd043a3hOdmdKYUh2Nm9YWEdWYkNkMVIyd1ktZGtLZnlsNXVwbzFNSU1rbXNUTmxLcEl3?oc=5