Coinbase has parted ways with Adam White, the exchange’s Head of its Institutional Platform Group and has subsequently replaced him with Instinet’s Jonathan Kellner.
Over the last several weeks, Coinbase has been very busy indeed. The U.S.-based exchange is keen on getting more people on board the crypto train and is trying to make things as easy as possible for new investors. One way to do this is through the platform’s Coinbase Bundle.
The $8 billion company must foresee substantial growth in the sector in the not-too-distant future as its hiring team seems to be hard at work. They recently welcomed a new Vice President of Data, Michael Li, who was LinkedIn’s Head of Analytics and Data Science.
Bump in the Road to Institutional Investment?
However, according to Bloomberg, the shoe is now temporarily on the other foot as the exchange says goodbye to the Head of its Institutional Platform Group, Adam White. A spokesperson for the exchange said:
While we’re extremely sad to see him go, we’re also confident in that group’s ability to keep executing on the vision that he laid out to be the most trusted venue for institutional investors to trade cryptocurrencies.
The platform’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, spoke about White’s contribution to the growth of the exchange:
Over the past five years, Adam helped us build our exchange business into the largest U.S.-based crypto-trading venue, and was integral to growing Coinbase’s global presence and scaling our culture to multiple offices.
The timing of White’s departure could put a bit of a damper of Coinbase’s upward trajectory, especially as they seek to encourage more institutional investors to enter the industry. White’s replacement will have to hit the ground running but he definitely knows a thing or two about institutional investments.
Coinbase Welcomes New Team Member
Jonathan Kellner will be taking over the reins at the exchange as its Managing Director of its Institutional Coverage Group. Kellner is the previous CEO of Instinet, an institutional brokerage firm. Kellner also worked at Charles Schwab, just like Coinbase’s newest board member, Chris Dodds.
A recent Coinbase blog touched on what Kellner will be doing:
In his new role at Coinbase, Jonathan will take charge of our institutional sales and support organizations, and will play an integral role in bringing our suite of institutional crypto trading products to professional investors.
The platform seems to be surrounding itself with highly-qualified and experienced professionals to help them bridge that ever-present, but perhaps shrinking, divide between disruptive crypto and traditional finance. Now that Coinbase Pro has been deemed the most secure cryptocurrency exchange, perhaps this would increase institutional trust in the platform even more.
What do you think of Coinbase’s latest hire? Let us know in the comments below!
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