Armanino’s former crypto team has left and formed their own shop, reportedly
Having offered services to crypto clients since 2014, Armanino marked almost ten years in the crypto space until the catastrophic collapse of the crypto exchange FTX in November 2022 forced them to part with crypto clients seeking security, FTX being one of them. As a reminder, here’s what happened in December:
Armanino is closing its crypto-audit practice and dropping clients, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The unit could collapse under pressure from Armanino’s non-crypto clients, worried that reputational risk to the firm would call into question their audits, according to a source with knowledge of the firm’s crypto offerings. Last month, Armanino was named in a class-action lawsuit for failing to detect irregularities at FTX.US after conducting the exchange’s audit last year. The suit was filed by Stephen Pierce, an FTX customer who allegedly lost $20,000.
CoinDesk is now reporting that Armanino’s crypto team — including its manager — has struck out on its own and plans to offer a range of services to crypto customers who have been unable to get those services from their former employer.
Members of accounting firm Armanino’s digital asset practice have left and formed a new startup – The Network Firm – to run the business of providing audits, attestations and related work for crypto clients.
The move, confirmed to CoinDesk this week by people familiar with the matter, came after Armanino decided late last year to stop performing crypto audits amid increased scrutiny of past work for a US branch of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange. Armanino has said it stands by its 2020 and 2021 revisions to FTX US.
The official separation of the digital assets team, led by Noah Buxton, took effect Wednesday, the people said. According to the company’s LinkedIn page, The Network Firm was founded this year and is based in Miami.
The network company’s website lists the following people as the team (“CBP” = “Certified Bitcoin Professional,” a certificate issued by the CryptoCurrency Certification Consortium):
Noah Buxton
JD
Co-founder and CEO
Jeremy Nau
CPA, CMA, CBP
Co-founder and COO
Clayton Lowery
Co-Founder &
Chief Strategy Officer
Nick Ward
CPA, CBP
Co-founder & Assurance Director
Ilya Okhotnikov
Chief Engineer
Wesley Barton
CBP
Head, Digital Asset
Business services
Thomas M
CBP
Supervising Senior Associate, Assurance
Jesse Fink
CPA, CBP, CEP
Manager, Assurance
Noah Buxton is (was?) partner and head of Armanino’s Blockchain & Digital Assets practice and contributing writer and member of the AICPA Blockchain for SOC Working Group. He is still listed on Armanino’s website, where he is asked “What drew you to Armanino?” His answer:
I was drawn to Armanino because it values the entrepreneurial spirit I was looking for. When I came here in 2016, it was to build a risk assurance and advisory function, and it really resonated with me that you could build a business within a business here. We started with one employee and a couple of talented customers, and it grew into the large department it is today. Armanino’s platform for innovation and growth allowed my career to flourish in ways I could never have imagined.
It makes sense then that he would go a different route now that Armanino has pulled back on all that innovation.
Former accounting team of FTX US Auditor Armanino sets up shop as the network firm [CoinDesk]
