Moves of 2018
ProtocolsCEO Changes
Blythe Masters Steps Down as Digital Asset CEO
Blythe Masters resigned as chief executive officer of Digital Asset on December 18, 2018, after three years running the distributed ledger firm, handing the role to board chairman AG Gangadhar on an acting basis.
ProtocolsCEO Changes
Digital Asset Names AG Gangadhar Acting Chief Executive
Digital Asset named board member AG Gangadhar its chairman and acting chief executive on December 18, 2018, after Blythe Masters requested to step down from the role for personal reasons.
Markets & VenuesExecutive Hires
BitGo Names Dick Corcoran CEO of Its Trust Company
BitGo brought banking veteran Dick Corcoran out of retirement on December 6, 2018, to run a new South Dakota trust company built to hold crypto for hedge funds and family offices.
Markets & VenuesCEO Changes
Huobi Group Names Livio Weng CEO of Huobi Global
Huobi Group announced on December 6, 2018, that Livio Weng, an executive with the company since August of that year, had become chief executive of Huobi Global, its flagship exchange.
Markets & VenuesExecutive Hires
Ledger Names Demetrios Skalkotos Global Head of Ledger Vault
Ledger opened a New York office on Nov. 26, 2018 and put Demetrios Skalkotos in charge of Ledger Vault, the custody product the Paris company built for institutions holding multiple cryptocurrencies.
Markets & VenuesExecutive Hires
Fidelity Names Tom Jessop Head of Fidelity Digital Assets
Fidelity Investments launched Fidelity Digital Assets on Oct. 15, 2018 and put Tom Jessop in charge, giving the $7.2 trillion asset manager its own custody and trade execution service for institutional bitcoin and ether holders.
Payments & ConsumerExits and Removals
Sarah Friar Steps Down as Square CFO for Nextdoor
Square announced on October 10, 2018, that Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar would leave to become chief executive of the social network Nextdoor; CEO Jack Dorsey credited her with steering Square through an IPO.
ProtocolsBoard Seats
Digital Asset Adds AG Gangadhar to Its Board
Digital Asset named former Google and Amazon engineering executive AG Gangadhar to its board on July 18, 2018, five months before the board made him acting chief executive.
ProtocolsBoard Seats
Digital Asset Adds Stephan Leithner to Its Board
Digital Asset named Deutsche Börse Group executive board member Stephan Leithner to its board of directors on July 18, 2018, pairing Deutsche Börse's post-trade expertise with the company's ledger technology.
ProtocolsBoard Seats
Digital Asset Adds Tony James to Its Board
Digital Asset named Blackstone's Tony James to its board of directors on July 18, 2018, alongside two other new directors, as the DAML developer pushed to scale its ledger technology for banks.
Markets & VenuesExecutive Hires
Block.one Names Rob Jesudason Group President and COO
Block.one announced on May 13, 2018, that Rob Jesudason, the outgoing chief financial officer of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, would become its group president and chief operating officer.
Markets & VenuesExecutive Hires
Block.one Names Lee Schneider General Counsel
Block.one appointed FinTech lawyer Lee Schneider as its global general counsel on May 8, 2018, effective June 4, 2018, after he led the fintech and broker-dealer practices at McDermott Will & Emery.
LeadershipLeadership & Talent
Ryan Dennis Questions Token Sales in ICO Alert's Paid Reports
In 2018, Ryan Dennis bylined seven archived ICO Alert reports that disclosed a fee; the SEC later fined two other ICO sites over undisclosed fees.
ProtocolsCEO Changes
Ethereum Foundation Names Aya Miyaguchi Executive Director
Aya Miyaguchi left her post as Kraken Japan's managing director to become the Ethereum Foundation's executive director on February 1, 2018, succeeding Ming Chan.
ProtocolsCEO Changes
Ming Chan Steps Down as Ethereum Foundation's Executive Director
Ming Chan left the Ethereum Foundation's top staff role on January 31, 2018, after two and a half years guiding the organization through the DAO hack and the 2016 denial-of-service attacks.
Payments & ConsumerCEO Changes
SoFi Names Anthony Noto Chief Executive Officer
SoFi's board named Twitter COO Anthony Noto chief executive officer on Jan. 23, 2018, effective March 1, ending Tom Hutton's four-month run as interim CEO.
