Moves of 2020
Markets & VenuesBoard Seats
Coinbase Adds Ex-Cisco CFO Kelly Kramer to Its Board
Coinbase named Kelly Kramer, who spent nine years at Cisco and rose to chief financial officer there, to its board of directors on Dec. 16, 2020, putting her in charge of the Audit and Compliance Committee four months before the exchange's own public listing.
Payments & ConsumerExecutive Hires
BitPay Names Jagruti Solanki Chief Financial Officer
BitPay announced on December 1, 2020, that it had hired Jagruti Solanki, a former Aprio assurance partner, as chief financial officer alongside a new product vice president.
Markets & VenuesExecutive Hires
Bittrex Global Names Jeff Baron Chief Compliance Officer
Bittrex Global announced on November 12, 2020, that it had hired former Bermuda national security minister Jeff Baron as chief compliance officer for its Bermuda entity, starting the following month.
Markets & VenuesCEO Changes
Hut 8 Appoints Jaime Leverton Chief Executive
Hut 8 named technology executive Jaime Leverton as chief executive on November 2, 2020, effective December 1, ending a search that began when co-founder Andrew Kiguel stepped down in April 2020.
Markets & VenuesCEO Changes
Bitstamp Names Julian Sawyer Chief Executive Officer
Bitstamp named Julian Sawyer chief executive officer on October 22, 2020, making him the exchange's second CEO in the nine years since Nejc Kodrič founded it in a garage with 1,000 euros.
Markets & VenuesCEO Changes
Bitstamp's Kodrič Steps Down as CEO, Joins Board
Nejc Kodrič stepped down as Bitstamp's chief executive on October 22, 2020, nine years after he founded the exchange in a garage with 1,000 euros, and moved into a seat on the company's board.
Markets & VenuesCEO Changes
BitMEX Co-Founder Arthur Hayes Steps Down as CEO
Arthur Hayes stepped back as chief executive of BitMEX's parent, 100x Group, on Oct. 8, 2020, seven days after U.S. regulators and prosecutors charged him and two co-founders.
Markets & VenuesExecutive Hires
Galaxy Digital Names Damien Vanderwilt Co-President
Galaxy Digital appointed 20-year Goldman Sachs veteran Damien Vanderwilt co-president and head of global markets on September 29, 2020, pairing him with existing co-president Christopher Ferraro.
Rules & RiskSecurity & Incident Response
samczsun Answers Crypto's 911 Calls
samczsun started a $9.6 million white-hat rescue in 2020, protected $350 million at SushiSwap in 2021, then founded SEAL's emergency hotline.
ProtocolsCEO Changes
Frederik Gregaard Becomes the Cardano Foundation's First CEO
The Cardano Foundation named Frederik Gregaard its first CEO on September 21, 2020, when it employed 30 people.
Payments & ConsumerCEO Changes
CoinMarketCap's Interim CEO Carylyne Chan Departs
Carylyne Chan left CoinMarketCap on Aug. 30, 2020, and CoinDesk reported the next day that four more executives left the Binance-owned site the same week.
Payments & ConsumerExecutive Hires
Stripe Names Dhivya Suryadevara Chief Financial Officer
Stripe named Dhivya Suryadevara, General Motors' former chief financial officer, as its own CFO on Aug. 11, 2020, after the payments company launched in 15 new countries over the prior year.
Markets & VenuesBoard Seats
Canaan Names Wenjun Zhang Independent Director
Wenjun Zhang and three other new independent directors joined Canaan Inc.'s board effective August 1, 2020, The Block reported on August 3, a day before Canaan's own release, replacing three directors whose terms had expired.
ProtocolsExits and Removals
Josh Cincinnati Resigns as Zcash Foundation Executive Director
Josh Cincinnati announced on July 31, 2020, that he was resigning as the Zcash Foundation's executive director, citing a broken relationship with the Electric Coin Company's leadership.
ProtocolsCEO Changes
Josh Cincinnati Resigns as the Zcash Foundation's First Executive Director
The Zcash Foundation's executive director resigned on July 31, 2020, citing lost trust with the Electric Coin Company.
Markets & VenuesBitcoin & Mining
Alex Gladstein Turns Human Rights Money Into Bitcoin Code
HRF's Bitcoin Development Fund began with a gift of close to $50,000 in June 2020 and counted 383 projects in 70 countries by August 2026.
ProtocolsBoard Seats
Hubertus Thonhauser Takes the Tezos Foundation Chair From Ryan Jesperson
The Tezos Foundation announced on May 18, 2020 that its president would leave the Council and Hubertus Thonhauser would chair it.
Markets & VenuesExecutive Hires
Robinhood Names Dan Gallagher Chief Legal Officer
Robinhood hired board member and former SEC commissioner Dan Gallagher as chief legal officer on May 5, 2020, about seven months after he joined the board and four years after he left the agency he would now help Robinhood answer to.
Markets & VenuesCEO Changes
Bakkt CEO Mike Blandina Steps Down After Four Months
Intercontinental Exchange named David Clifton interim CEO of Bakkt on April 23, 2020, replacing Mike Blandina four months after he took the role.
ProtocolsExecutive Hires
Input Output Global Names Romain Pellerin Chief Technology Officer
IOHK, the company behind Cardano, announced on April 7, 2020, that Romain Pellerin would become its chief technology officer alongside a new chief commercial officer.
Markets & VenuesCEO Changes
Johnny Lyu Becomes KuCoin CEO as Michael Gan Becomes Chairman
KuCoin co-founder Johnny Lyu became CEO of KuCoin Global on March 17, 2020, the day Michael Gan became chairman of the new KuGroup.
Rules & RiskRegulation & Enforcement
Hester Peirce Waits Six Years for a Token Safe Harbor
Peirce proposed a three-year token safe harbor on Feb. 6, 2020; the SEC proposed its own on Aug. 18, 2026, weeks before she left.
ProtocolsCEO Changes
Jae Kwon Steps Down as Tendermint CEO After Six Years
Jae Kwon, Tendermint Inc.'s founder, gave up the chief executive title on February 4, 2020, promising a company run by a decentralized 'Process' instead of one person.
Markets & VenuesExecutive Hires
Figure Names Former Coinbase COO Asiff Hirji President
Figure Technologies named former Coinbase president and COO Asiff Hirji its new president on Jan. 29, 2020, to build a merchant bank on its blockchain platform.
Markets & VenuesCEO Changes
Andrew Kiguel Steps Down as Hut 8 CEO
Hut 8 co-founder Andrew Kiguel said on January 28, 2020, that he would step down as chief executive once the board found a successor, the same day the miner renegotiated its debt with Bitfury.
Markets & VenuesExecutive Hires
Bitpanda Names Oliver Stauber Chief Legal Officer
Oliver Stauber left a Vienna law firm specializing in Bitcoin and blockchain work to become Bitpanda's chief legal officer on January 14, 2020, when the Austrian exchange counted more than 1 million users.
