Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_62f660a9674ad" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>MeebitsDAO general manager takes over as Yuga Labs’ brand leader for the NFT collection</li>
 <li>Core Scientific reveals 10% headcount reduction on Thursday earnings call</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Hedge fund figure <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bluemacellari/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blue Macellari</a> joined T. Rowe Price as its head of digital assets strategy, she <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6963223028855926784/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">revealed on LinkedIn</a> Thursday.&nbsp;



“This is what adoption looks like,” Macellari wrote in the post.



Macellari spent the last four-plus years as a managing partner at crypto hedge fund firm Dunamis Trading, according to her profile. There, she launched and co-managed Dunamis’ crypto market-neutral vehicle and formulated company strategy.



T. Rowe Price managed $1.3 trillion in assets, as of June 30. A company survey published in April found that <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/t-rowe-price-survey-40-of-kids-think-crypto-is-future-of-investing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">40% of children believe crypto is the future of investing</a>. A T. Rowe Price spokesperson told Blockworks at the time that given the size of digital asset markets, their impact on capital markets cannot be ignored.



Crypto exchange OKX appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederica-tompkins/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frederica Tompkins</a> as director of brand marketing and Kim Murphy as director of events.



Tompkins joins OKX from the luxury and fast-moving consumer goods sectors, having worked with brands such as Chanel and Ralph Lauren. Murphy comes from the worlds of event production and philanthropy, where she helped organize concerts, conferences and boutique celebrations.&nbsp;



Tompkins and Murphy join during a year that has seen OKX strike partnerships with Manchester City Football Club, the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-exchange-okx-inks-f1-mega-deal/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">McLaren Racing Formula One team</a> and the Tribeca Festival. The exchange appointed Rachel Conlan as its global head of brand marketing and partnerships earlier this year.



OKX’s hiring of female leaders coincides with its joint <a href="https://www.okx.com/academy/en/global-blockchain-industry-talent-insights-okx-linkedin-report" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> with LinkedIn showing <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/theres-a-shortage-of-tech-and-female-crypto-talent-report/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a shortage of tech talent</a>, as well as female professionals, in the blockchain industry. The analysis found the sector had about four times more men than women, as of June.&nbsp;



Leading exchange Binance hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-long-06903220/?originalSubdomain=ie" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Karl Long</a>, WisdomTree Asset Management’s former director of digital assets and commodity operations, to spearhead its operations in Ireland, Irish Independent <a href="https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/binance-appoints-former-state-street-executive-as-head-of-its-irish-operation-41895702.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> Monday.&nbsp;



A Binance spokesperson declined to comment.&nbsp;



Long joined WisdomTree in February after working as a managing director of operations at State Street for nearly a decade, according to his LinkedIn profile.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The executive is based in Dublin, Ireland, his profile indicates. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/binance-ceo-says-ireland-is-part-its-hq-plans-2021-10-07/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Reuters</a> last year that the exchange was considering Ireland and France as potential headquarters and had <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/binance-looks-to-settle-on-ireland-as-global-headquarters/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">registered a new entity in Ireland</a> the following month.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Newly-minted NFT execs for Yuga Labs and Dibbs</h3>



Yuga Labs, the firm behind Bored Ape Yacht Club, named <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannygreene82/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Danny Greene</a> to fill its newly created role of brand lead for <a href="https://meebits.app/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Meebits</a> after Greene spent the last eight months as general manager of the MeebitsDAO.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Meebits is an NFT collection with 20,000 characters and a trading marketplace. Yuga Labs <a href="https://mirror.xyz/0xEc9f53fA69682833FBd760C104B5D61aE29221E0/Km81y6Mc3O5LzS0wnrghVIV0HnZgLOd4wsnfcGw3_2I" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">acquired the commercial rights to Meebits</a> and CryptoPunks from Larva Labs in March.&nbsp;



&#8220;The Meebits collection stands out not only for the artistic achievement but also because it was the first 3D avatar designed for the interoperable metaverse and has always been a pillar of diversity and inclusion in web3,” Greene said in a statement. “Already you can play with your Meebit in over 20 virtual worlds, apps, and games — and this is just the beginning.”&nbsp;



Sports NFT (non-fungible token) platform Dibbs has added leaders as it seeks to grow beyond a collectibles marketplace to a tokenization and custody platform for intellectual property owners and collectors.&nbsp;



Dibbs hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/benplomion/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ben Plomion</a> as its chief marketing officer and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-plumeri-0479141ab/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bill Plumeri</a> as its chief compliance officer.



Plomion spent seven years at contextual intelligence company GumGum, where he served as chief growth officer. Plumeri most recently led the global institutional compliance program at crypto lender BlockFi.



Prior to BlockFi, Plumeri was the director of compliance at digital asset securities unit Securitize, where he designed and implemented a compliance program focused on tokenizing traditional securities on the blockchain. He has held other leadership roles at crypto exchange Gemini, as well as JPMorgan and BNP Paribas.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Luno snags policy lead from fintech unicorn Revolut</h3>



Institutional crypto trading tech provider Talos hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nealpawar/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Neal Pawar</a> as a strategic adviser.&nbsp;



Pawar is the chief operating officer of Qontigo, an affiliate of Deutsche Börse Group that offers index analytics and risk solutions. He was formerly chief investment officer of UBS’ wealth management group and a group CIO at Deutsche Bank.



Pawar joins Jennifer Hill, ex-chief financial officer of Merrill Lynch; David Cushing, former director of global trading at Wellington; and Tim Grant, Galaxy Digital’s head of Europe, on the company’s advisory board.&nbsp;



London-headquartered Luno hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommytudehope/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Thomas Tudehope</a> as its global head of public policy to deepen its crypto investment app’s relationships with industry regulators, at a time when governments are looking to fix their eyes on the sector.



Founded in 2013, Luno was acquired by Digital Currency Group in 2020. Luno’s flagship app of the same name, has more than 10 million customers across roughly 40 countries, according to company figures.



Tudehope was most recently head of public affairs at Revolut, where he expanded the company’s public policy team and led political engagement. He was also formerly a senior adviser to former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.



Decentralized finance-focused UK firm AQRU appointed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/digby-try-3b85329/?originalSubdomain=uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Digby Try</a>, the company’s co-founder, as its chief commercial officer.



Before becoming co-founder and chief operating officer of AQRU last October, Try previously worked as head of global sales at banking and payments platform OpenPayd and as a vice president of sales for EMEA at Currencycloud, which Visa acquired last year.



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kameliagankova/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kamelia Gankova</a>, formerly managing director at Crypto.com’s Bulgarian outpost, is now the COO of AQRU subsidiary Accru Finance.



Gankova has also served as director of customer service at online payments company Paysafe.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">In case you missed it</h3>



Core Scientific <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-miner-core-scientific-downsizing-after-840m-impairment-charge/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reduced its headcount by 10%</a> in the second quarter as part of cost-cutting measures to deal with market turmoil, the top crypto miner revealed Thursday.



Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said on an earnings call earlier in the week that it did some “selective shrinking” of its team in the second quarter. Galaxy, a digital asset management firm, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/galaxy-digitals-stock-rises-despite-posting-555m-q2-net-loss/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">posted a $555 million net loss</a> during the three-month period.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Novogratz said the company is seeking to boost its headcount from 375 people to more than 400 by the end of the year. A Galaxy spokesperson declined to comment.



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Binance

Latest in Crypto Hiring: T. Rowe Price Adds Digital Assets Strategy Head

<div id="highlights-block_626ac15bfc93e" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>T. Rowe Price, which services about 6,900 401(k) plans, has not seen demand for crypto investments in retirement plans, according to a spokesperson</li>
 <li>Financial institutions that don’t follow Fidelity’s lead will risk losing customers, crypto executive says</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



While Fidelity <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/fidelity-delves-deeper-into-crypto-by-allowing-bitcoin-in-401ks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">revealed Tuesday</a> that it is getting set to allow people to allocate a portion of their retirement savings to bitcoin through the company’s 401(k) platform, competitors aren’t as bullish on the prospect.



The Boston-based financial services company reported growing interest from employers to offer crypto access to employees. But competing 401(k) providers cite a lack of demand and crypto’s speculative nature as reasons for holding off.



Fidelity’s <a href="https://www.fidelityworkplace.com/s/digitalassets" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Digital Assets Account</a> offering is expected to be available to the roughly 23,000 employers using the company&#8217;s platform by mid-year. It will allow employees to gain exposure to bitcoin, with a maximum allocation of 20%.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Competitors weigh in</h3>



Vanguard has no plans to offer a cryptocurrency option within 401(k) plans, a spokesperson told Blockworks.



The company, which has about 1,400 401(k) plan sponsors, did not comment on whether it could seek to follow Fidelity’s move. Instead, the representative referenced <a href="https://investor.vanguard.com/investor-resources-education/article/cryptocurrencies-and-vanguard-what-we-think">a blog post</a> the company published in September, which calls cryptocurrencies “highly speculative” and notes that their long-term investment case is “weak.”&nbsp;



“As many of our investors know, our investing philosophy encourages staying the course and tuning out the noise,” the blog states. “As cryptocurrencies and blockchain become increasingly mainstream, we’ll continue to monitor their development and discern the best path forward for our investors.”&nbsp;



No companies using Charles Schwab’s 401(k) platform offer crypto investments, said a spokesperson, who declined to comment about whether the firm would consider launching a similar offering to Fidelity. 



Schwab currently serves roughly 1,000 401(k) plans. About 60 percent of its Schwab Retirement Plan Services clients offer a “brokerage window” in their 401(k) plan, which allows individuals to gain access to stocks, mutual funds, ETFs and over-the-counter trust products.&nbsp;



While some of these investment options offer exposure to crypto, assets into such products amounted to less than 1% of total 401(k) brokerage window assets at Schwab, as of Dec. 31, 2021, the representative told Blockworks.



T. Rowe Price, which services about 6,900 401(k) plans, has previously noted “the high level of speculation and lack of regulatory clarity” in the space. The mandates the firm manages for clients today are not well suited for investing directly in digital assets, a spokesperson said.



“None of the defined contribution plans we recordkeep offer cryptocurrency, and we have not seen client demand for that type of investment,” the representative added.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Only a matter of time?</h3>



But Bobby Zagotta, CEO of Bitstamp USA, said Fidelity wouldn’t make this move if there wasn’t high demand for crypto.&nbsp;



Bitstamp’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/80-of-institutions-bullish-on-cryptos-future-survey-finds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">latest Crypto Pulse survey</a> found that 80% of institutional investors believe that crypto will overtake traditional investment vehicles within a decade.



“Other financial institutions will have to follow Fidelity’s lead or risk losing customers who increasingly see digital assets as an important part of their retirement planning,” Zagotta told Blockworks.&nbsp;



Nina Tannenbaum, head of business operations at Algorand, said that Fidelity’s move is a key indicator that digital currencies are increasingly being viewed as more than just short-term speculative assets.&nbsp;



“It is also encouraging to see that Fidelity plans on building out their digital asset offerings beyond bitcoin,” Tannenbaum said. “They could consider expanding their offerings to include digital assets that are far more ESG and sustainable-friendly.”



Though Fidelity is the first major financial services company to provide crypto exposure within 401(k)s, ForUsAll <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/retirement-investment-provider-introduces-alt-401k/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unveiled an offering last year</a>, allowing employers to provide alternative investment options within such plans.



<a href="https://go.forusall.com/growing-businesses-best-401k/?utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;utm_term=forusall&amp;utm_campaign=Brand_Prospecting_Exact_Core&amp;hsa_cam=10630087387&amp;hsa_mt=e&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;hsa_ad=589076717886&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_tgt=kwd-312639716760&amp;hsa_acc=3390420381&amp;hsa_grp=103738900303&amp;hsa_kw=forusall&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw9qiTBhBbEiwAp-GE0QA-WwlxltqteXpuGlVbjdHnhG8RJVUiwtZyO8vuRF3dJ5Oxl4rtuhoCWVsQAvD_BwE" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ForUsAll</a> CEO Jeff Schulte said crypto access in 401(k)s is “inevitable,” noting that he expects other large institutions to follow Fidelity.&nbsp;



“Not all financial institutions and banks will jump in right away; it will take time,” he said. “But we believe that those who truly listen to their clients&#8217; needs and understand the real investment case for crypto in a well-diversified portfolio — they will be the innovators and among the first to follow Fidelity&#8217;s lead.”



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401K

Will Competitors Follow Fidelity’s Lead in 401(k) Bitcoin Offering?

<div id="highlights-block_624c8e55484a1" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Among parents familiar with the space, 32% say their kids actively trade crypto more than they do</li>
 <li>“The mandates we manage for clients today are not well suited for investing directly in digital assets,” a T. Rowe Price spokesperson said</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Kids are more familiar with crypto than their parents, according to T. Rowe Price’s latest survey, and 40% of the children believe that crypto is the future of investing.



The 2022 Parents, Kids and Money Survey, conducted by online market research firm Dynata, sampled more than 2,000 parents and their 8- to 14-year-old children.



Fifty-seven percent of kids surveyed said they were familiar with cryptocurrency, compared with 47% of parents. Among the parents who are familiar with cryptocurrency, 32% say that their kids actively trade crypto more than they do.



Asked what they would do if given $100, 29% of the children said they would invest it. Of those, 57% said they would invest it in cryptocurrency, while 38% said they would invest in traditional stocks.



Forty percent agree that “cryptocurrency is the future of investing,&#8221; the survey also found, though parents don’t seem as convinced — 28% of surveyed parents said they invest in crypto. 53% of those invested or familiar with the space worry that crypto is &#8220;a bubble that will burst,&#8221; and 52% fear it is a &#8220;short-term fad.&#8221;



Roger Young, thought leadership director at T. Rowe Price, which had $1.54 trillion in assets under management as of Feb. 28, called cryptocurrencies “extremely volatile and speculative investments” in a statement, noting that investing in a diversified portfolio of stocks, bonds and cash is “a sound strategy.”



&#8220;It&#8217;s great to see kids taking an interest in investing, but parents need to talk to their kids about the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies,&#8221; Young said. &#8220;Families who put money into cryptocurrency should do their research and be prepared for a wide range of possible outcomes.”



Given the size of digital asset markets, their impact on capital markets cannot be ignored, a spokesperson told Blockworks, noting that T. Rowe Price has analysts and investors who follow the space closely. Crypto’s market capitalization is roughly $2.2 trillion, according to data compiled by Blockworks.



“We’ve studied the risk and return characteristics and portfolio implications of crypto, perceiving a wide range of possible outcomes,” the representative added. “The mandates we manage for clients today are not well suited for investing directly in digital assets, and we are cognizant of the high level of speculation and lack of regulatory clarity in this space.”



Meanwhile other large asset managers are starting to get involved in the segment.



BlackRock, for example, which manages more than $7 trillion in assets, began allowing <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/which-mutual-funds-etfs-are-making-crypto-related-investments/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">two of its mutual funds</a> to allocate to bitcoin futures contracts in January 2021. The fund group <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/blackrock-files-for-crypto-etf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">registered for an ETF</a> in January that would focus on blockchain technology, and its CEO, Larry Fink, recently said that the war in Ukraine <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/blackrock-ceo-ukraine-war-could-speed-digital-currency-adoption/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">could speed digital currency adoption</a>.



The survey’s release follows Investopedia’s <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/financial-literacy-survey-5223919" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2022 Financial Literacy Survey</a>, which found that while crypto investments are popular among Gen Z, millennial, and Gen X investors, 49% of Americans have only a beginner-level understanding of digital currency.



Twenty-eight percent of millennials surveyed by Investopedia expect to use cryptocurrency to financially support themselves in retirement, while that figure was at 20% and 17% for Gen X and Gen Z respondents, respectively.



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