Lead agent in the 2016 Bitfinex hack investigation joins blockchain intelligence solutions provider
Chainlink Labs adds the ex-CTO at Diem Association and a former VP at LinkedIn to its leadership ranks

FTX Europe appointed Marcel Lötscher to the company’s newly created head of regulatory strategy role, and he will step into the position on Oct. 1. He will join the company to continue FTX’s global expansion into Europe and the Middle East.

Lötscher, who holds a doctoral degree in collective investments, is former head of the securities and markets division at the Financial Market Authority (FMA) of Liechtenstein and a member of its executive board.

Patrick Gruhn, head of FTX Europe, highlighted the different regulations across European countries. He told Blockworks that cryptoassets are deemed a financial instrument in Germany, for example, but are treated like commodities in Austria and Switzerland.

“If we have the same rules in all European countries, that makes it easier for crypto firms to sell their product, and at the end of the day, also to be scalable,” Lötscher said.

Crypto lending and borrowing platform Celsius appointed Guillermo Bodnar as its chief technology officer.

Bodnar most recently worked as chief solutions officer at software development company Globant. Before that, he was chief information officer of Arbinet, where he built the largest computer-based telecommunications exchange and trading platform.

Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky founded Arbinet and worked with Bodnar at the company. He noted in a statement that he and Bodnar will focus on “unlocking financial freedom for the next 100 million crypto users.”

Blockware Mining named Jackie Price as its chief operating officer. She is set to lead the Chicago-based company’s corporate partnerships, government affairs, strategic planning, marketing and investor relations.

Price previously served as chief marketing officer of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, one of the largest digital asset industry trade associations, and was also formerly a senior executive at public relations and marketing consultancy firm Edelman.

Izumi World has named a former marketing executive at Gatorade, Samsung, Verizon, Xbox and Rarible as its chief marketing officer.

Jamie Davies spent more than two decades as director of marketing for Gatorade and Samsung. He was also formerly head of brand and innovation marketing at Verizon and a senior advertising manager at Xbox.

A game in which players capture and train magical beasts called Izumis from live-tracked locations in the real world, Izumi World seeks to be a leading augmented reality game in the play-to-earn and traditional gaming spaces. It also plans to launch a non-fungible token (NFT) collection in the second quarter.

Chainlink Labs has added the former chief technology officer at Diem Association and an ex-vice president at LinkedIn to its leadership ranks.

Dahlia Malkhi, who before working at Diem spent about 10 years at Microsoft Research and co-founded VMware Research, has joined the blockchain oracle solutions provider as its chief research officer.

Chainlink Labs also announced this week that Mike Derezin, who spent more than a decade at LinkedIn, joined the company late last year as its chief operating officer.

Pete Stephens has joined digital asset custodian Komainu as its chief technology officer.

He previously served as head of technology for Switzerland’s SIX Digital Exchange. He focused on capital markets post-trade technology in roles at DrumG Technologies, UBS AG, IBM and PwC.

Stephens joins Komainu shortly after its introduction of Komainu Yield and will be responsible for expanding the company’s staking services and the buildout of additional yield generating offerings.

TRM Labs named former IRS-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Special Agent Chris Janczewski as head of global investigations.

Janczewski was the lead agent in the Bitfinex hack investigation while at IRS-CI, focusing on the alleged conspiracy of two individuals to launder $4.5 billion in cryptocurrency stolen during 2016. He signed a seizure warrant that recovered $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency, the largest seizure in United States government history.

TRM provides blockchain intelligence solutions to help financial institutions, cryptocurrency businesses and public agencies combat crypto-related fraud and financial crime.

Casey Wagner contributed to this story.

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