50 key crypto hires, moves and exits: August 2025

Hiring picked up again in August, with a flurry of senior moves across exchanges, custodians, and infrastructure firms. The biggest shifts came at Coinbase, Grayscale, and CoinGecko, where leadership roles were reshuffled as firms look to sharpen their positioning ahead of the next cycle. CleanSpark also saw its co-founder return to the CEO role after a leadership change.

Advisory appointments stood out too, with high-profile names like Arthur Hayes and Peter Smith taking on new roles. Stablecoin projects and venture firms in particular leaned on strategic hires and board additions as they try to lock in credibility and expand their reach.

There were also a handful of notable exits — from the Solana Foundation’s comms head to the IRS’s crypto lead — underscoring how turnover remains high at the intersection of crypto and regulation. All told, the month’s moves suggest firms are doubling down on policy, compliance, and capital markets expertise, even as market conditions remain subdued.

Hires

• Circle hired Adi Seredinschi as Principal Product Manager, joining from Informal Systems, where he was Director of Product. The firm also added Nicholas Walsh as VP, Brand and Creative, after serving as SVP, Brand, Creative and AI Operations at Laetro.

• Crypto Tax Calculator brought on Josh Scheffey as Senior Director, Strategic Accounts, Americas. He was previously Sales and Business Development Lead, Web3 and Gaming at Arculus.

• CyberFund appointed Chrissy Hill as Chief Legal Officer. She was previously CLO at Parity Technologies.

• Figure named Reid Simon as Head of Democratized Prime. He was formerly Head of DeFi and Credit Solutions at Securitize.

• Kalshi hired John Wang as Head of Crypto. He previously co-founded Armor Labs and served as its CEO.

• Lightspark appointed Alberto Martin as Chief Product Officer. He was most recently Director of Product Management, Web3 at Google.

• Mysten Labs added Mustafa Al Niama as Head of Capital Markets. He joins from Goldman Sachs, where he was Head of Digital Assets, Americas.

• Offchain Labs named Sean Soper as Head of Finance. He was previously Head of Finance at Sei Development Foundation.

• OKX appointed Marcus Hughes as VP, Global Head of Government Relations. He was formerly VP, Global Head of Regulatory Strategy at Kraken.

• Phantom hired Donnie Dinch as VP of Strategy. He was previously CEO of Bitski.

• ProCap brought on Jeffrey Park as Partner and Chief Investment Officer. He was previously Head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise Asset Management.

• Renaud Partners appointed Gregor Frick as a Partner, joining from Moonrock Capital.

• Nexo appointed Lorenzo Pellegrino as Chief Banking Officer. He was previously CEO of Skrill, NETELLER, and Income Access at Paysafe.

• Securitize added Graham Ferguson as Head of Ecosystem. He was previously Head of Growth and GTM at Omni Network.

• Centrifuge hired Jürgen Blumberg, former Goldman Sachs ETF Accelerator COO for EMEA, as Chief Operating Officer. He will also serve as CIO of Anemoy, Centrifuge’s onchain-native asset management subsidiary.

• Grayscale Investments expanded its management team: Diana Zhang (COO), Ramona Boston (CMO), Andrea Williams (Chief Communications Officer), and Maxwell Rosenthal (CHRO).

• Murano Global Investments appointed Eric Weiss to its Board of Directors and as Chair of its Bitcoin Strategic Initiative Committee.

• Komainu hired Jamal Qaimmaqami as General Counsel for MENA & APAC.

• EverGive named co-founder Muhammed Yesilhark as President.

• CleanSpark reinstated Matt Schultz as CEO following the resignation of Zachary Bradford.

• Foresight Ventures added Alice Li and Zac Tsui as Partners.

• CoinGecko made multiple leadership changes: co-founder Bobby Ong became CEO, succeeding fellow co-founder TM Lee, who transitioned to President. Cedric Chan was appointed CTO, and Xingyi Ho moved from Head of Growth to Head of Product.

• SEC named Judge Margaret “Meg” Ryan as Director of the Division of Enforcement.

• 50T welcomed Michael Scott as a Partner.

• Stablecoin Standard appointed Oliver Madden as Head of Membership & Education, and added Elliot Hentov of State Street IM to its board.

• BridgePort hired Steven Bartfield, a former Goldman Sachs and CME executive, as Chief Product Officer.

• Xapo Bank hired Tommy Doyle as Head of Relationship Management, joining from FalconX.

Promotions & Advisory

• 0x promoted Rui Zhang from Deputy General Counsel to General Counsel.

• Coinbase elevated Shan Aggarwal from VP, Head of Corporate & Business Development to Chief Business Officer.

• Verb Technology made a series of appointments for its TON-focused DAT initiative: Manuel Stotz as Executive Chairman, Veronika Kapustina as CEO, Sarah Olsen as CFO/COO, and Peter Smith (Blockchain.com) as Advisor.

• Tether appointed Bo Hines as Strategic Advisor for Digital Assets and U.S. Strategy.

• Upexi formed an advisory committee, naming Arthur Hayes as its first member.

• Barry Silbert assumed the role of Board Chairman at Grayscale Investments, moving from Mark Shifke, who remains on the board.

• TM Lee, co-founder of CoinGecko, transitioned from CEO to President.

Exits

• Story co-founder Jason Zhao resigned to launch a new AI venture.

• Solana Foundation communications head Arielle Pennington departed the organization.

• CleanSpark CEO Zachary Bradford resigned as officer and director.

• IRS crypto lead Trish Turner left the agency to join Crypto Tax Girl as Tax Director.