Latest in Crypto Hiring: Crypto Firm Uses TradFi Vets for Asset Management Business

Crypto-focused financial services firm EQONEX appointed a chief investment officer and head of investment analysis with an extensive traditional finance background.

CIO Simon Goodman most recently co-founded crypto investment firm PSG Digital and blockchain digital asset allocator Peregrine. Earlier in his career, the manager spent more than 15 years building out hedge fund Marshall Wace’s presence in Asia.

Head of investment research Benjamin Noodle previously spent nine years in investment banking at HSBC, Société Générale and BNP Paribas.

The hires to boost the company’s asset management business come after EQONEX revealed last month that it would shut down its crypto exchange to focus more on its asset management and cryptocurrency custody business lines.

Blockchain Privacy Startup Nym named Andres Arauzformer director of Ecuador’s central bank and presidential candidate in 2021, as adviser.

Nym is a decentralized platform that protects network-level privacy for any application, wallet or digital service – including against traffic pattern analysis and metadata monitoring.

While heading the central bank of Ecuador, in 2011 Arauz led the first pilot for a digital central bank currency, which was fully implemented in 2014.

“For too long, countries around the world have been subjected to cyber colonialism and mass surveillance of their financial transactions,” Nym Technologies CEO Harry Halpin said in a statement. “While El Salvador’s use of Bitcoin as legal tender is an interesting initial experiment, we are pleased that Arauz has joined Nym to help develop an even more ambitious plan for financial freedom and privacy in Latin America. “

Galaxy Digital has employed Andrew Lace as vice president of institutional sales in the trading division, a company spokesperson confirmed.

Lace joins the company from Elwood Technologies, where he was sales director since July 2021. He has also previously worked at the London Stock Exchange Group, Refinitiv and Thomson Reuters.

Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz said during the company’s earnings call last month that there was “selective shrinkage” of the Galaxy team during the second quarter, in which it suffered a net loss of $555 million. Still, he added at the time that Galaxy intends to increase its workforce from 375 to more than 400 employees by the end of the year.

Law firm Brown Rudnick have added Stephen Palley, Matthew Richardson, Preston Byrne and Hailey Lennon as partners in their digital trading practice. They are joined by colleague Jeff Karas.

The four new partners come from the law firm Anderson Kill. Palley, who founded and chaired the technology, media and distributed systems group there, is set to lead Brown Rudnick’s digital commerce practice alongside Clara Krivoy.

“Our clients are increasingly in the digital asset space as founders, investors or traditional corporate entities looking to use technologies like blockchain and cryptocurrencies as part of their business,” Brown Rudnick CEO Vince Guglielmotti said in a statement. “This team of extremely talented attorneys brings the kind of insight and skills that will benefit our clients by enhancing our ability to provide an end-to-end experience, particularly for those in the technology space.”

Calculate financiala crypto exchange in the Middle East, has cut staff to reflect “operational needs and market conditions,” Bloomberg reported Thursday.

The company raised $110 million in January from Paradigm, Kleiner Perkins, Coinbase Ventures and other investors. It did not disclose the number of workers it cut.

In case you missed it, Snap revealed this week that it would cut around 20% of its workforce as it attempts to restructure the company to cut costs. Some of these employees were focused on the social media company’s Web3 initiatives.

Most recently working as a research and development program manager for Snap, Jake Sheinman said in a tweet Wednesday that the company decided to “sunset” the Web3 team he co-founded last year.

Although augmented reality is one of three strategic priorities for Snap going forward, sources familiar with the company’s efforts told Blockworks that early Web3-related projects did not contribute to this focus. Only a few people were involved in exploring Web3 at Snap, the sources added.

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