These crypto leaders have scaled back since the market crash in May

Change is in the air as the crypto space continues to see top executives step down from their roles amid the market crisis stemming from the Terra Luna fiasco and the Federal Reserve’s continuous interest rate hikes, which negatively impacted global financial markets.

The change in crypto-related leadership started with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey stepping down from the company’s board in May. While Twitter is not a crypto-focused firm, Dorsey is a well-known Bitcoin advocate. He got the social media giant involved in such matters as integrating crypto hashtags and launching an NFT collection.

Compass Mining lost two key executives

As the crypto winter intensified in June, bitcoin mining hosting and brokerage firm Compass Mining (CMP) lost two of its top executives. CEO Whit Gibbs and CFO Jodie Fisher resigned on the same day due to several setbacks and disappointments at the company.

In the same month, Binance Labs, the venture arm of the world’s leading crypto exchange Binance, lost its head Bill Qian sent in his resignation a few weeks after CEO Nicole Zhang left the firm.

On July 1, Peng Zhong, CEO of Ignite, the development firm behind the Cosmos blockchain, announced his resignation. The resignation came a few months after the company changed its name from Tendermint to Ignite as part of its restructuring plan. According to reports, other top executives at Ignite left the firm after Zhong’s unexpected exit.

Towards the end of July, G. Steven Kokinos, CEO of blockchain company Algorand, Resigned after spending almost four years with the firm. Despite his retirement, Kokinos will continue to advise Algorand until next year.

A surprising August

August started with a bang when Bitcoin proponent Michael Saylor announced that he was stepping down from his role as CEO of MicroStrategy after serving as CEO for over three decades. Nonetheless, Saylor’s resignation as CEO allows him to focus on the firm’s Bitcoin strategy.

During his time as CEO, Saylor led MicroStrategy in investing in Bitcoin. Today, the company has 130,000 BTC purchased for $3.98 billion, topping the list of listed entities with Bitcoin investments.

Still in August, Michael Moro left his position as CEO of Genesis after the crypto brokerage cut 20% of its workforce to cut costs in the bear market.

Shortly thereafter, Alameda Research, the main trading firm of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX, lost its co-CEO after Sam Trabucco resigned from the company to focus on personal matters.

Kraken and Celsius bosses join the train

On September 21, Kraken founder Jesse Powell joined the list of crypto executives who stepped down from their positions. He served the crypto exchange for over a decade and will continue to do so as chairman.

Shortly thereafter, FTX US President Brett Harrison and Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky followed in Powell’s footsteps and left their positions at their respective firms.

Harrison shared the news on Twitter, noting that he would be moving into an advisory role to continue service to the exchange.

The outgoing president, who has worked for the firm for more than 18 months, said he helped transform FTX US from a three-person team to a workforce of more than 100 dedicated employees from technology, business development, legal and customer service.

Celsius’ creditors demanded the CEO’s exit

On the other hand, Mashinsky’s departure came a couple of months after Celsius filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York due to a severe liquidity crisis during the Terra fiasco.

Shortly after Mashinsky stepped down from his role at Celsius, reports emerged that his resignation may have stemmed from pressure from the company’s creditors.

According to a recent court filing, the creditors represented by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (UCC) had asked the Special Committee of Celsius Network to remove its CEO and take other necessary measures to ensure a smooth restructuring of the firm.

The UCC noted that after reviewing the information presented by Mashinsky as “an extension of the committee’s investigation,” it would be unacceptable to allow him to continue as CEO.

Meanwhile, it is unclear which top crypto leaders will step down next, but it would be interesting to see how long this trend will continue.