As part of a leadership reorganization following its exposure to the insolvent hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and a general market collapse, cryptocurrency brokerage Genesis has let go of four senior executives. Co-head of sales and trade Matt Ballensweig announced on Twitter that he is departing the organization after more than five years. A person with knowledge of the situation claims that the managing director of trade Michael Paleokrassas and the head of cash trading Reed Werbitt have both left. Genesis’ head of derivatives, Joshua Lim, earlier claimed that he had also gone.
Their departures signal the extent of upheaval at the New York-based firm, which announced a 20% layoff and a new leadership team last month. Genesis Chief Executive Officer Michael Moro stepped down, and Chief Operating Officer Derar Islim took over as interim CEO.
“Over the last month I’ve started transitioning my core responsibilities to a handful of trusted colleagues who will step up to run our front-line businesses,” Ballensweig said in a tweet. He will stay close to the firm as an adviser “for the foreseeable future.”
Genesis was the biggest creditor ensnared in the collapse of Three Arrows after the fund failed to meet margin calls. Its parent Digital Currency Group assumed some liabilities and filed a $1.2 billion claim against Three Arrows, which is under liquidation.
The crypto industry has seen a raft of successions recently. Celsius Network Ltd.’s CEO Alex Mashinsky and FTX US President Brett Harrison both announced departures this week.
Genesis officials didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Late last month, Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at Genesis, said she left after the layoffs were announced.
