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Binance.US CEO Brian Brooks Steps Down, Cites Strategic Differences with Colleagues

Brian Brooks announced in his Twitter account that he has resigned from Binance.US CEO just after taking the managing position four months ago.

On Friday, August 6, Brian Brooks tweeted that he resigned because of “differences over the strategic direction” between him and his colleagues at Binance Group:

“Letting you all know that I have resigned as CEO of Binance-US…. I wish my former colleagues much success. Exciting new things to come!”

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (Binance.US chairman) talked about the development and said he is “confident in Binance.US’ business and its commitment to serve its customers.” Zhao stated that Brook’s departure would not affect Binance.US customers in any way:

“Brian’s work for Binance.US has been invaluable, and we hope he will continue to be an integral part of the crypto industry’s growth, advocating for regulations that move our industry forward. We wish him the very best in his future endeavours.”

Zhao did not say why Brooks left the group, and even Brooks did not explain the specific reason. So far, Binace.US has not elaborated on any successor or an interim expert to replace Brooks.

Binance Facing Increasing Scrutiny

Brooks’ departure, together with the departure of Ricardo Da Ros, director of Binance Brazil, raise more questions as regulators crack down on Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange in the world, has intensified.

On Wednesday, July 14, Mr. Ricardo Da Ros announced his resignation as a director of Binance Brazil after serving the position for six months at the firm. Da Ros stated that he could not accomplish what he wanted within the first six months, so he departed from the company.

Brooks and Da Ros have resigned when regulators in the UK, Thailand, Italy, Japan, Germany, and Hong Kong have cracked down on Binance because of worries over investor protection. Financial regulators worldwide have raised concerns that the boom in crypto assets is aiding money laundering and increasing systemic risks.

Cosmos Blockchain Developer Ignite Layoffs Employees, CEO Peng Zhong Resigns

Peng Zhong, the CEO of Ignite, the company behind the Cosmos blockchain ecosystem, announced his resignation on Friday. Zhong’s departure comes just a few months after the firm recently changed its name from Tendermint to Ignite as part of its reorganization plan.

In February, Tendermint rebranded itself to “Ignite” to bring fresh change and action within the company.

In late May, Ignite further split into two entities: Ignite and NewTendermint. The return of Jae Kwon, the original co-founder of Ignite, led to the company’s split into two business subsidiaries during that month.

With the split, Ignite’s original co-founder, Mr. Kwon, rejoined his old team as the CEO of NewTendermint while Mr. Zhong, the current CEO of Ignite, remained as CEO of the newly restructured Ignite.

Zhong’s resignation is considered to have been fueled by Kwon’s return to the company.

Kwon co-founded Ignite and its parent company, All In Bits Inc. in 2014. The executive stepped down as Tendermint’s CEO in 2020 after fierce disputes with some of its staff, but he retained a seat on the parent company.

With the split, NewTendermint was designed to focus on contributing to the core technology of the Cosmos blockchain ecosystem, while Ignite continued to focus on blockchain-based product development.

With a background in interaction design and front-end engineering, Peng focused on guiding blockchain development across the wider company. His sudden departure, therefore, raises questions about Ignite and New Tendermint’s futures.

Meanwhile, other reports also show that Ignite has announced massive job cuts of more than half its workers this week. The announcement came after Ignite’s CEO Peng Zhong disclosed on Friday that he would exit the company.

The departure of several other top executives at Ignite further puts the future of the company in question.

While Ignite laid off some workers, others volunteered to leave the firm in return for severance packages.

Some might have voluntarily left the company after details about the new organizational structure between the two entities remained vague for many weeks after they were announced.

The looming job cuts were first announced by Mr. Kwon when he returned to the firm in May. During his return, he stated that severance packages would be offered to some workers.

Job Cuts Follow the Bear Market

The current crypto crash forced Mr. Kwon to trim the headcounts of the company further than originally expected, sources familiar with the matter disclosed.

The ongoing crypto crash has caused a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) in the community, not only among investors but also within companies. Crypto firms such as Crypto.com, BlockFi, Coinbase, and Gemini, among others, laid off hundreds of employees amid a meltdown in cryptocurrencies and a collapse in their token prices.

The crypto winter, triggered by the plunge of the Terra/Luna ecosystem, has put everyone into uncertainty whose fate is unknown when it will end.

Most firms appear to blame the current market conditions. The price of multiple coins has fallen following a new wave of selloffs. The difficult market conditions prompted some crypto firms like Celsius, BlockFi, Three Arrows Capital, among others, to face severe financial woes.

Celsius CEO Resigns amid Broader Bankruptcy Tango

Alex Mashinsky, the Chief Executive Officer of the embattled crypto lending firm Celsius Network, has tendered his resignation as the head of the firm, effective immediately.

As contained in a Press Release from the company, the resignation letter was handed over to the Company’s Special Committee of the Board of Directors.

The resignation letter sent by Mashinsky reads:

“Effective immediately, please accept my resignation as CEO of Celsius Network Ltd, as well as my directorships and other positions at each of its direct and indirect subsidiaries, with the exception of my director position at Celsius Network Ltd. I regret that my continued role as CEO has become an increasing distraction, and I am very sorry about the difficult financial circumstances members of our community are facing. Since the pause, I have worked tirelessly to help the Company and its advisors put forward a viable plan for the Company to return coins to creditors in the fairest and most efficient way. I am committed to helping the Company continue to flesh out and promote that plan in order to help account holders become whole.”

Mashinsky co-founded the Celsius Network alongside Daniel Leon back in 2017, and the firm grew to become one of the most celebrated crypto lending platforms in the crypto world.

The company’s operation hit the rocks in June when it halted withdrawals and finally declared bankruptcy after it realized that internal restructuring and staff layoffs would be insufficient in helping to solve its liquidity woes.

The resignation of Mashinsky is coming at a time when the company is neck deep into bankruptcy proceedings, and the former CEO said his exit would position him in a better place to help every stakeholder get the best out of the company in the end.

Unlike Celsius Network, Voyager Digital, another bankrupt player, is on its way to being acquired by FTX after the exchange behemoth won a bid to acquire it for $1.4 billion.

Celsius Network Conditionally Not to Enforce Debtors to Pay for Outstanding Loans

Beleaguered digital currency lender Celsius Network has revealed that it was not planning to ask its debtors to pay their outstanding loans during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Over the weekend, Reuters reported that with the bankruptcy that the firm has filed, there is no plan to enforce payment despite the need to settle its creditors.

As reiterated by the firm through a filing at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Southern District of New York, penalties and interests will also not be levied on its debtors as part of its plans to get back on its feet.

Celsius Network is the first amongst many crypto unicorns to suspend withdrawals as the aftermath of the Terra ecosystem collapse, and the extreme crypto market plunge became too much to bear. The crypto lender tried to settle its financial woes internally but eventually declared bankruptcy in July.

At the time of its bankruptcy, the company said it had about a $1.19 billion deficit on its balance sheet. However, this sum has been shown to exceed this amount.

The firm’s assets and liabilities are estimated to be between $1 billion and $10 billion. Celsius Network has had it rough since pausing withdrawals, and the firm rebuffed one of the earliest offers of acquisition from Swiss competitor, Nexo.

In a bid to solve its woes and bring a speedy recovery to all of its stakeholders, Alex Mashinsky resigned his role as the Chief Executive Officer of the platform, taking a background role to help get succour to all involved.

The downfall of Celsius Network, as well as that of Babel Finance, affected Zipmex which also suspended withdrawals and declared bankruptcy in Singapore. The cataclysmic event emanating from the LUNA crash has affected more crypto unicorns than Celsius Network, Babel Finance, and Zipmex.

With analysts projecting revival in the next couple of years, exchanges like Binance and FTX have been aiding most distressed firms.

BitMEX CEO Alexander Hoptner Resigns From the Trading Platform

Alexander Höptner, the Chief Executive Officer that was drafted to bail out the BitMEX exchange when Arthur Hayes was under investigation by the United States market regulators has announced, with immediate effect, his resignation from the exchange.

First reported by The Block, the exchange’s leadership has been handed over to Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Stephan Lutz, a veteran who joined the exchange as a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and took up the CFO role in May 2021.

“Stephan Lutz has been appointed as Interim CEO of BitMex after Alexander Höptner has left our business with immediate effect,” a BitMex spokesperson said in a statement, “Stephan will continue to serve as our CFO, a role he has held since May 2021.”

Höptner took over as CEO back in January 2021 at a time when the exchange needed enough stability and a break from the legal onslaught that was launched by US regulators over its derivatives products. Drawing on his experiences with Börse Stuttgart, Deutsche Börse AG, and led Euwax AG, Höptner committed to changing the primary focus of the exchange from derivatives to other products.

This push paid off under his watch as BitMEX launched its spot trading outfit back in May. With so many big shoes to step into, Lutz has also expressed optimism to help drive the trading platform’s growth, and with his more than a year of experience, he can be considered a suitable fit for the role.

“Together with the rest of the management team and our talented staff members, I will make sure that BitMex continues to deliver great, innovative crypto trading products and a secure and stable trading environment for our clients,” Lutz said in the emailed statement. “We want to thank Alexander for his support to the business during his tenure and wish him well in his future endeavours.”

Exchanges have continued to lose their top executives as outfits including Kraken, FTX, and NYDIG have seen the exodus of the top this crypto winter.

nChain CEO Departs Accusing Dr. Craig Wright of Fraud

Christen Ager-Hanssen, the Group CEO of blockchain technology company nChain, has announced his resignation, effective immediately. Ager-Hanssen took to social media on September 30, 2023, to detail the reasons behind his departure, highlighting a series of serious concerns he reported to the nChain board. Among these, he alleged a conspiracy to defraud nChain shareholders orchestrated by a significant shareholder and raised concerns about the ultimate beneficiary shareholder and the real individuals behind DW Discovery fund registered in Cayman. The former CEO also mentioned that the chairman had been taking instructions from shadow directors, which he found unacceptable.

Evidence against Dr. Craig Wright

A notable part of Ager-Hanssen’s revelation was his assertion that he had discovered compelling evidence against Dr. Craig Wright, a controversial figure in the blockchain community who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. Ager-Hanssen stated that the evidence he found suggests Wright manipulated documents to deceive courts about his identity as Satoshi. This led Ager-Hanssen to believe that Wright is not Satoshi and is likely to lose his ongoing legal battles. He expressed regret for not having recognized these issues earlier, referring to Wright as “#Faketoshi” in his tweets.

Reactions from the Crypto Community

Ager-Hanssen’s disclosure generated a significant reaction from the cryptocurrency community. Several individuals, including Ray Youssef and Rahul Sood, supported his decision to come forward with the information. Others inquired about his past support for Wright and what changed his perspective. Ager-Hanssen acknowledged that he was misled into believing that Wright was part of the group that created Bitcoin.

A Look Back at Algorand

Some commentators also touched on Ager-Hanssen’s past involvement with Algorand, suggesting that he should have stayed with the project, regarded by some as superior blockchain technology. Ager-Hanssen admitted his mistake and expressed openness to exploring scalable technologies moving forward. The discussions also delved into the broader implications of the former CEO’s allegations on the Bitcoin SV (BSV) community, which largely rallied around Wright’s claims in the past.

Future Endeavors

Although the immediate future remains uncertain for Ager-Hanssen, he expressed gratitude for the support received and hinted at his willingness to explore other opportunities in the blockchain space. The narrative underscores a significant event in the ongoing saga surrounding the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto and adds another layer to the controversies enveloping nChain and Dr. Craig Wright.

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