Crypto hiring: Turmoil at Binance, Fortress Trust, Parity Technologies

The Binance staff turnover saga took another turn this week with word that Jonathan Farnell, head of Binance UK and the CEO of Bitfinity, left the company in September.  

The departure news comes roughly a week after it emerged that Stéphanie Cabossioras, general manager of Binance France, also departed.

Farnell had served as director of Binance UK since June 2021 and resigned on Sept. 22, 2023. Prior to his more than two year tenure at the world’s largest exchange, he spent over five years at eToro as a director of compliance and as a board member.

Blockworks reported that Binance UK temporarily stopped accepting new customers over crypto ad bans. 

Another big crypto company, Ripple, is having an effect on Fortress Trust’s C-suite. 

Read more: Crypto hiring: Binance exit list gets longer as French general manager departs

Scott Purcell, the founder of Fortress, stepped down as CEO roughly around a month after Ripple abandoned its planned acquisition of the crypto custody firm. Purcell will remain a board member of the parent company. 

According to a LinkedIn post, Rich Hauschild will serve as the new CEO. Previously, Hauschild was the chief operating officer of crypto IRA provider iTrustCapital. 

Fortune also reported that Fortress laid off at least six employees.

Fireblocks snags former New York regulator 

Fireblocks, which offers institutional grade digital asset custody, hired Peter Marton, a former top regulator at the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). The NYDFS is the chief regulatory body for crypto in the state. 

Blockworks previously reported that Marton left his post as head of the virtual currency department at the agency in September. Now, he’s venturing back into the private sector and will serve as Fireblocks’ director of digital identity. 

Prior to joining the NYDFS in December 2021, Marton worked in digital asset strategy at IBM.

Other notable hires

• Paradigm’s Fred Ehrsam is moving into a General Partner position, effectively handing off more responsibility to co-founder Matt Huang. Huang took the stand in Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial earlier this month.
• Parity Technologies, the developer behind Polkadot, will cut a total of about 100 employees, or 30% of its staff, Bloomberg reported.
• Binance promoted its Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) general manager, Kyrylo Khomiakov, to regional head for both the CEE and Central Asia regions.
• Deribit announced the appointment of Anthony Sweeney as its chief information security officer.
• Finery Markets, an OTC trading solutions provider for crypto companies, brought on Marko Jagustin as a strategic advisor.
• Jennifer Campbell joined Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund as a partner. Campbell previously sold her crypto prime brokerage startup to Coinbase.

Don’t miss the next big story – join our free daily newsletter.

Follow Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial with the latest news from the courtroom.