Originally Posted by Tim Copeland, The Block

Original translation: Felix, PANews

Hiring momentum remained steady in July, as cryptocurrency companies continued to recruit experienced operational personnel from traditional finance and the broader tech sector. Several teams made strategic executive additions across trading, revenue, legal, and growth, reflecting a drive to formalize operations and prepare for a more regulated market environment. Hiring activity spanned DeFi, stablecoins, on-chain infrastructure, and RWA platforms.

There has been a noticeable hiring spree surrounding stablecoin and tokenized asset initiatives. Bastion, as it builds out its infrastructure regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services, has added two senior executives to lead finance and revenue functions. As treasury and tokenized products grow in popularity among fintechs and asset managers, Veda and the Stellar Development Foundation have also hired new executives to lead legal, growth, and marketing functions. Chainlink, NEAR, and ReserveOne have also continued this trend, with new hires focused on ecosystem expansion and institutional positioning.

On the regulatory front, personnel changes were even more pronounced this month. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested the resignation of Erica Williams, Chair of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), and appointed a new Director of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Meanwhile, several prominent cryptocurrency operators transitioned to advisory roles or departed to pursue other careers, signaling a slow but ongoing reshuffling of personnel as the industry adapts to evolving compliance requirements, market structure, and capital needs.

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Bastion: Vince Tejada joins as Head of Finance and Strategic Treasurer. Previously at Ripple, he helped lead global payments and stablecoin projects, including the launch of RLUSD. Earlier in his career, he worked at JPMorgan Chase and IBM.

Bastion: Jared Klee joins as Head of Revenue. He previously served as Head of Sales at Vouch, where he launched the company's Web 3 business. He co-founded Triple Point Liquidity and previously held various roles at IBM, including leading IBM Blockchain's digital asset business.

Blockdaemon: Alex Zinder joins as Chief Product Officer. He previously served as Chief Product Officer at Reya Labs.

CEA Industries: David Namdar joins as CEO. He previously co-founded Galaxy Digital.

Chainlink Labs: Jordan Calinoff joins as Head of Stablecoins and Reliable Authorizations (RWAs). He previously served as VP of Strategy and Revenue at Horizen Labs.

Coinbase acquired Opyn through an acqui-hire, bringing on CEO Andrew Leone and Head of Research Joe Clark. The Opyn team is known for pioneering DeFi options, inventing Power Perpetuals, and launching Squeeth. This is Coinbase's sixth acquisition this year.

Coinbase: Alex has joined Coinbase as the company's first "CT Leader." Previously, he was the head of social media and community at Binance, claiming to have added 20 million followers to the company across multiple platforms. He will work closely with Coinbase's executive team to lead crypto-native marketing efforts.

dYdX: Eddie Zhang joined dYdX as President following the acquisition of Pocket Protector, where he previously served as CEO and co-founder. Kaiser Kinbote also joined dYdX as Head of Growth, having previously led strategy and growth at Pocket Protector.

Ethereum Foundation: David Wals joins as Head of Enterprise. He previously served as Head of Ecosystem at Alluvial.

G-Knot: Wes Kaplan joins as CEO. He previously served as CEO of Cointelegraph.

GSR: Frank Chaparro joins as Director of Content and Special Projects. He was previously a contributing editor at The Block and host of The Scoop.

M 0: Thomas Scott joins as General Counsel. Previously, he served as Chief Legal Officer at Tools for Humanity.

M11 Fund: Thomas Rep joins as Portfolio Manager. Previously, he was Head of Trading and Business Development at a Dutch cryptocurrency platform.

Multicoin Capital: Brian Strugats joins as Head Trader. He previously served as Head of Trading at FalconX and held senior positions at Glenhill Capital, XN, Balantrove, and Fortress.

NEAR Protocol: George Xian Zeng joined as Chief Growth Officer. He previously served as COO of dYdX.

Paxos: Linnea Perelli-Minetti joins as Head of Global Dollar Network. She previously served as Head of Product and Artists at TIDAL (Block).

ReserveOne: Sebastian Bea joins as President and Head of Investments. He previously served as President of Coinbase Asset Management.

Robot Ventures: Anirudh Pai joins as Venture Partner. He was previously a Partner at Dragonfly.

RWA Summit: Foster Wright joins as CEO. He was previously president of CoinDesk.

SharpLink: Joseph Chalom became co-CEO on July 24. He previously served as a senior executive at BlackRock, where he led digital finance initiatives, including the launch of the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA).

Related Reading: BlackRock's 20-Year Veteran Goes All-In on Ethereum; Joseph Chalom Joins SharpLink, Aiming to Become the Ethereum MicroStrategy

Stellar Development Foundation: Jose Fernandez da Ponte has joined the foundation as President and Chief Growth Officer. He previously served as Head of Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and Digital Assets at PayPal. Jason Karsh has also joined as Chief Marketing Officer. He previously served as Business Director at Blockchain and previously worked at Blockchain.com.

Veda: TuongVy Le joins as General Counsel. She brings extensive legal and policy experience from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Anchorage Digital, and Bain Capital’s crypto division. She will lead Veda’s legal, compliance, and policy efforts as the company expands its treasury infrastructure platform.

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PayPal: Frank Keller's responsibilities have been expanded to lead blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital currency businesses.

SharpLink: Rob Phythian will transition from CEO to president and continue to serve on the company's board of directors.

Uniswap Labs: Mary-Catherine Lader transitions from president and COO to advisor while preparing for new business development.

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Variant: Derek Walkush is leaving the firm after three years to take an operational role at a portfolio company.

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency: Jonathan Gould, a former partner at the Jones Day law firm, has been appointed Comptroller of the Currency.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) announced that Erica Williams will step down as chairperson on July 22, following the resignation request of Paul Atkins, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).