Cryptocurrency custody specialist Fireblocks is expanding its executive team with the addition of Michal Ferguson as chief marketing officer, as it gets ready for a bull market-driven onboarding of retail and institutional customers this year.
Ferguson joins Fireblocks from cybersecurity platform Snyk, following in the footsteps of other notable appointments such as Chief Customer Officer Madan Gadde, previously of FIS, and CFO Michael Levine from Payoneer (NASDAQ: PAYO).
Before the recent financial crisis, companies with a strong cryptocurrency presence grew quickly and attracted premium prices. For example, at the beginning of 2022, Fireblocks raised $550 million at a valuation of $8 billion.
The monthly outbound volume ($53B), monthly outbound transaction volume (3.11M), and monthly active wallet volume (160%) all increased on the Fireblocks platform in 2023.
Fireblocks CEO, Michael Shaulov, said in the announcement, “Over the past year, we’ve strategically augmented our leadership team with experts who are leaders in their domain and deeply committed to shaping the future of digital asset management. This collective prowess fortifies our mission, driving Fireblocks towards our ambitious objectives.”
Increasing the size of the C-Suite and adding a CFO from a large U.S. fintech listed company could indicate that Fireblocks intends to pursue public market appeal in the future, something that companies like Circle and potentially Galaxy may also be hoping to achieve soon.
Along with these new hires, Fireblocks has strengthened its regulatory, retail/fintech, finance, and customer success teams. Among these appointments are Peter Marton, Director of Digital Identity; Deborah Barta, Global Head of Retail & Fintech; Michael Levine, Chief Financial Officer; and Madan Gadde, Chief Customer Officer.
In an interview, Shaulov stated, “We didn’t know exactly when the market would start expanding again, but it was clear to us it would happen sooner or later.”
He added that the goal of promoting cryptocurrency is not to predict Bitcoin’s price but rather to highlight how cryptocurrency is being used as a payment and tokenization platform by major businesses.
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