35 key crypto hires, moves and exits: October 2025

Crypto hiring stayed steady through October, with infrastructure firms, trading platforms, and venture funds continuing to add senior talent. The biggest moves came across legal, product, and strategy roles as companies positioned for regulatory clarity and next-phase growth.

Major networks strengthened their executive teams, while new venture and institutional activity in the Middle East showed long-term confidence in Web3. Infrastructure and RWA projects also drove key appointments, underscoring how real-world utility is shaping the next wave of crypto expansion.

Hires

• Algorand: Nikolaos Bougalis was appointed Chief Technology Officer. He was previously CTO at marco.
• Arbitrum: Brendan Ma joined as Head of Investment Strategy. He was previously Head of Investments at Immutable.
• Avalanche Treasury Co.: Bart Smith became Chief Executive Officer and Laine Litman became Chief Operating Officer. Smith was CEO at Susquehanna Crypto. Litman was Chief Administrative Officer and Partner at Hidden Road.
• Circle: Dylan Casey was named VP of Product, Circle Payments Network. He was previously Chief Product Officer at REEF.
• EDX Markets: David Olsson joined as Chief Commercial Officer. He was previously Global Head of Institutional Sales at Kraken.
• Ethena Labs: Larry Florio became Deputy General Counsel. He was previously General Counsel at 1kx.
• FalconX: Rebecca Hirst was hired as VP of Accounting. She was previously Head of Finance at Asymmetric Research.
• Google: Ishan Singh joined as Senior Principal, Digital Assets. He was previously SVP of Solutions at Axoni.
• Gravity Labs: Kyle Libra was brought on as Operating Partner. He was previously Product Lead at Paxos.
• Grayscale Investments: Laurie Katz was appointed Global Head of Distribution. She was previously Chief Revenue Officer at Figure Markets.
• Hashgraph Ventures Manager (HVM): Darrach “Dara” Campbell was named Senior Executive Officer. He brings nearly 20 years of experience across investment banking, venture capital, blockchain, and gaming.
• House of Doge / Brag House Holdings: Matt Swann was appointed Chief Digital Officer. He previously held senior technology roles at Amazon, Booking.com, StubHub, and Nubank.
• Mesh: Dacheng Zhao joined as SVP of Product. He was previously Head of Product, Generative AI at Attentive.
• Monad Foundation: Nathan Cha was hired as Director of Marketing. He was previously Chief Marketing Officer at Eclipse Labs.
• Morpho Labs: Tarik Bellamine joined as Head of Engineering. He was previously a Senior Engineering Manager at Uniswap Labs.
• NEAR Foundation: Matt Kummell became Chief Commercial Officer. He was previously SVP of Strategy at Digital Currency Group.
• OKX: Angie Beehler joined as Head of US Institutional. She was previously Global Head of Liquidity Solutions at Amber Group.
• Orrick: Dan Ullman joined as a Partner in the financial and fintech advisory group in Washington, D.C. He previously served at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
• SharpLink: Mandy Campbell became Chief Marketing Officer. Matthew Sheffield became Chief Investment Officer. Michael Camarda became Chief Development Officer. Campbell was Partner and Head of Marketing at Bain Capital Crypto. Sheffield was Head of Spot Trading at FalconX. Camarda was Head of Corporate Development at Consensys.
• Stellar Development Foundation: Federico Gomez Schumacher was appointed GM of Latin America. He was previously VP and General Manager of Latin America at PayPal.
• Succinct Labs: Brian Trunzo joined as Chief Growth Officer. He was previously Chief Growth Officer at Mantle.
• Tempo: Dankrad Feist joined as a senior member of the technical team. He was previously a protocol researcher at the Ethereum Foundation.
• World Liberty Financial: Mack McCain was appointed General Counsel. He was previously Chief of Staff and Associate General Counsel, Regulatory at Robinhood.
• Yuma: Greg Schvey became Chief Operating Officer and Jeffrey Schvey became Chief Technology Officer. Both previously held the same roles at Axoni.
• Alchemy: Bill Platt was named Chief Operating Officer. He was previously an AWS AI executive.
• Talos: Drew Forman was appointed Senior Vice President and Head of Strategy. He was previously Managing Director and Head of Digital Assets at Cowen Digital.

Promotions & Advisory

• Blockchain Association: Kristin Smith and Rebecca Rettig joined the Board of Directors.
• CFTC: Michael Selig was nominated to serve as Chairman. He is Chief Counsel of the Crypto Task Force and Senior Advisor to the Chairman at the SEC.
• Gemini: Jim Esposito joined the firm’s Board of Directors. He is the former Chief Operating Officer at MoonPay.

Exits

• Ripple: David Schwartz will depart the role of Chief Technology Officer. He will join the company’s Board of Directors.

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