BlackRock, Worldcoin, SEC — a roundup of the top crypto jobs and people moves
BlackRock, an asset-management firm and issuer of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, is hiring.
It’s a sign that the digital-assets job market remains hot, with more traditional finance players looking to hire.
DL News pulled together some of the past month’s major crypto employment news.
Policy, Legal and Regulatory
David Hirsch, who led the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit within the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division, said he left the regulator after almost nine years.
Hirsch didn’t announce his next move, but said he looked forward to “sharing more about that soon” and having a break with his family.
Hirsch has a background in complex litigation, and ran a private investigation company with a friend for 10 years. He joined the SEC in its Dallas-Fort Worth office in 2015.
David Hirsch, the (imo) *only* SEC staff who actually understands crypto and DeFi is leaving the SEC....he was also one of the most effective crypto enforcOOOrs in recent years...Seems to me he was mainly focused on the Terra case likely thinks leaving now is good timing as it… pic.twitter.com/i9dhC80nqb
— _gabrielShapir0 (@lex_node) June 17, 2024
Katherine Minarik joined DeFi platform Uniswap Labs as its chief legal officer.
Minarik joined from crypto exchange Coinbase, where she spent four years as deputy general counsel and vice president of legal.
“It is impossible to spend time in crypto and not be inspired by the potential of DeFi to change the world,” she wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
Minarik replaces Marvin Ammori, who said he switched to a part-time role at Uniswap, which is a layer 2 network built on top of the Ethereum blockchain.
Minarik joins the firm as it awaits a possible lawsuit from the SEC.
John “Jackson” Mueller IV wrote on LinkedIn that he left Securrency, now known as the digital-assets arm of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.
The DTCC is a US clearinghouse.
Mueller joined digital-asset infrastructure developer Securrency four years ago as its director of policy and government relations, before its acquisition by the DTCC.
Custody
Anchorage Digital Bank appointed Connie Shoemaker to its board of directors.
Shoemaker, who has 25 years of experience in financial services, is chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Bridgewater Associates, the asset-management firm founded by billionaire investor Ray Dalio.
Prior to that, Shoemaker served as chief administrative officer for Goldman Sachs.
Institutional
Market maker Keyrock announced two new executive hires.
Robert Valdes-Rodriguez joins as chief commercial officer and Dr. Francesco Adiliberti joins as chief operating officer.
Valdes-Rodriguez has a three-decade-long career in financial firms, including ABN Amro and Scotiabank.
Adiliberti has over 25 years of experience with banks, including Goldman Sachs and HSBC.
Stephen Leahy said he left Circle after three-and-a-half years at the company, which issues the USDC stablecoin.
Leahy held a number of roles at Circle, but most recently was director of capital markets partnerships. He hasn’t announced his next move.
Web3 and DeFi
Shodipo Ayomide, a former global head for developer advocacy at blockchain company Polygon, has joined Nuklai.
He will be building a community of devs and builders at Nuklai, which bills itself as layer 1 blockchain infrastructure to fuel artificial intelligence and large language models with data.
Worldcoin, the startup co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman that scans human eyes with metallic orbs, is looking for a UK-based general manager.
The applicant should be “scrappy,” able to “nurture high-performing relationships with local Orb Operators,” and willing to spend most of their working life on the road.
The job ad doesn’t list a salary. But considering that it’s asking for “10-plus years of business management experience” and that Worldcoin raised $115 million in its last funding round, we’re betting the pay won’t be too shabby.
Asset Management
Are you a digital-assets lawyer? How does a job at the world’s largest asset manager sound?
BlackRock is looking for an attorney for its registered fund legal team, “focusing on digital assets-related matters for the US exchange-traded funds business.”
Responsibilities include providing legal advice on the launch of new exchange-traded funds, and the job pays $175,750 to $229,500 — though it may differ by location. Nice.
Are you a senior executive in a crypto firm who’s just got a new job or is leaving an old one? Want to update the industry on your big career move? Send a short bio and headshot to [email protected].
