Morgan Stanley Exec Jumps Ship to Crypto

Provider of blockchain-based payment solutions Tassat hired a handful of executives, some of whom come from large traditional financial firms.

Second Frank, who was named CEO of the New York-based firm’s Digital Interbank Network, recently worked at the London Stock Exchange as an executive management consultant. He also previously worked as CEO of Thesys Technologies, the big data and market structure technology subsidiary of Tradeworx.

Formerly Tassat’s director of product development, Glendy Kam is now its chief product officer. Prior to Tassat, which is focused on b2b payments, she launched the API pilot program supporting JPMorgan’s blockchain initiative, Onyx.

Dan WolffTassat’s new managing director of customer success spent 20 years at fintech broker-dealer Liquidnet. Carol Hartmanformer managing director of Hartman Group Consulting, was hired as managing director of business development.

Jack Rush and Ned Thompson are now also managing directors for business development at Tassat. Rash was previously national sales manager at Fiserv. Thompson, a former vice president of global treasury solutions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, also previously worked at Fidelity Investments and Santander Bank.

Tim Neill is now a provider of crypto infrastructure Copperhis new chief risk officer, a role he previously held at Mastercard.

The executive said in a statement that he seeks to help Copper “ensure that institutional investors and asset managers can continue to trade and store cryptocurrencies transparently and securely.”

Neill joined Mastercard in 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile, working as risk manager for real-time payments and applications and head of risk for product management. He has also previously held roles at the London Stock Exchange Group, Standard Chartered Bank and Deutsche Bank.

Crypto trading platform Amber Group has cut as much as 10% of its workforce so far this year as the bear market persists, Bloomberg reported Friday.

Another Morgan Stanley executive defects to crypto

Algorand Foundation appointed Deirdre Halligan as Chief Operating Officer to help the Algorand blockchain enter new markets and work with regulators to drive mass adoption.

Halligan joins the organization from financial app Revolut, where she led global affairs, as well as wealth and trading. Prior to that she was COO of Coinbase Ireland and worked in the same role at e-commerce technology company eDesk.

“I have always looked for work with advanced technologists [and] disruptors, and Algorand is the blockchain with the necessary speed, security and low carbon footprint to deliver financial innovation on a global scale, Halligan said in a statement.

Liquidity provider B2C2 employee Thomas Restout as managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa, as the company reports on more traditional financial firms devoting resources to understanding and building products around digital assets.

Restout joins B2C2 from Morgan Stanley, where he was most recently global head of macro electronic trading and led crypto trading for the Wall Street giant’s fixed income division.

Crypto exchange Binance allegedly employed Henrique Meirellesa former President of the Central Bank of Brazil and Minister of Economy, as an advisory board member.

The appointment was reported by Brazilian newspaper O Globo. Meirelles was president of Brazil’s central bank from 2003 to 2011.

Hive Blockchain Technologies employee Gabriel Ibghy as an associate attorney after he joined the company last year via acquisition as director of legal affairs.

Ibghy is a practicing lawyer and a member of the Quebec Bar, and has legal experience in corporate and commercial litigation before all levels of various Canadian courts.

He was most recently CEO of GPU.ONE, a data center owner and operator that Hive acquired last year.

The announcement came on the same day that Hive revealed that it has begun analyzing mining of other coins at the feet of graphics processing units (GPUs) ahead of Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, and is implementing beta testing this week.

Rockstar co-founder goes Web3

Laura Mercurio is set to become CEO of Blockchain Australia September 12. She seeks to help the organization grow its membership base and work with government and regulatory bodies to shape the future of blockchain technology.

Mercurio previously spent six years at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, from 2006 to 2012, and has also worked at Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank.

Meanwhile, Australia-based cryptocurrency brokerage Caleb & Brown has hired three managers to help the company expand its services to include fund management.

Tommy Rogulj will lead the design, implementation and management of a crypto asset portfolio for sophisticated investors, the firm said on Wednesday. Daniel Caruso and Gary Head will help strengthen the company’s industry footprint and manage risk while working with the team to develop an institutional model for investing in cryptoassets.

Rogulj was most recently a portfolio manager and senior investment analyst for the investment company Spaceship, and has also previously worked at State Street, Russell Investments and AtlasTrend.

Caruso, who steps into the role of director of financial risk, previously led equity and securities finance solutions at Société Générale, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley. Leder, Caleb & Brown’s strategic committee chair, is a partner at MST Financial and was previously a senior advisor at Gresham Partners.

Dan Houserthe co-founder of Rockstar Games and the creative director behind the Grand Theft Auto series, joined the blockchain gaming company’s advisory board Rotating game.

The Web3 startup raised $25 million in a funding round led by Houser, along with Pantera Capital, Animoca Brands, Polygon, Dapper Labs, Permanens Capital Partners, Kenetic Capital, Sarmayacar and DWeb3 Capital.

Founded in 2020, Revolving Games is developing a Battlestar Galactica game and has a co-op adventure game – called Skyborne Legacy – due for release in October.

Back in the financial world: digital asset management consultant Saber56 added Antoine Farris as its new head of corporate development and ventures.

Farris joins Saber56 from family office Golden Vision Capital, where he worked as a managing director focusing on venture and growth equity investments in the healthcare, consumer and technology segments.

He began his career in the technology, media and telecom group at Bear Stearns & Co. and later held senior investment banking roles at Lazard and Rothschild.

In case you missed it

Digital bank ING’s former head of digital assets Hervé Francois joined Investcorp to lead the alternative investment giant’s first blockchain-focused fund, Blockworks reported Tuesday.

Based in Abu Dhabi, François is set to work with early-stage startups involved in segments such as decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFT) and blockchain infrastructure.

Mysten Labs raised $300 million as part of a Series B funding round that will help power more Web3 applications and accelerate the adoption of the new blockchain.

The Web3 infrastructure company intends to hire dozens of professionals across engineering, marketing, partnerships, developer relations and product roles in the coming months, a spokesperson told Blockworks.

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