Former NYSE Executive Moves Into Crypto by Joining Andreessen Horowitz
A former executive who worked as the head of regulation at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) recently moved into the crypto sector after joining Andreessen Horowitz. This marks another event of legacy financial figures moving into crypto businesses and roles. The news was revealed by a spokesperson for Andreessen Horowitz in a Wall Street Journal article.
According to the WSJ, the former chief regulatory officer at NYSE Anthony Albanese left his former position and joined Andreessen Horowitz. The company in question is a leading VC firm in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries. In his new role, Albanese will support the company by working on a regulation strategy for crypto projects, as well as deal with regulators.
Andreesen Horowitz is known as one of the most crypto-friendly VC companies in the US and has major partnerships with several groups and teams. This also includes Coinbase, a leading crypto exchange in which the firm invested in.
Since 2020, the firm actively establishes itself as one of the most competitive investment companies in the market. For example, Horowitz raised $515 in a funding round earlier this year that would support several blockchain protocols. As a reminder, the company made its first crypto-related investment in 2018. Where it raised $300 million.
Will institutions take over crypto?
As we have already seen this year, this is not the first case that an executive moved from legacy industries into crypto. Following the CFTC civil charge on BitMEX this year, the exchange changed its entire leadership. The operator of BitMEX, 100x group, decided to remove all of its existing executive directors and replace them with new ones.
Vivien Khoo became the interim CEO of BitMEX and has considerable experience in legacy financial markets. For example, she worked as the managing director for Asia Pacific Compliance at Goldman Sachs. Before that, she held multiple positions at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.
Another new employee, Ben Radclyffe also has similar roots. He now works as the Commercial Director at BitMEX and has a 20-year background in finance. Previously, he wired for Deutsche Bank, UBS, and Tower Research Capital.
According to some in the industry, these events appear to be a legacy takeover. Cryptocurrencies historically had a negative connotation in almost all parts and sections of society. However, the tides quickly changed as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital assets proved their value. While seeing individuals join the sector from all kinds of industries, especially legacy financial markets, is definitely a good thing, we are still left pondering if such events offer a negative long-term outcome.
Will Bitcoin stay what it currently is even 10 years from now or will other key players completely change the meaning of cryptocurrencies and replace them with something else? Big players, especially institutional ones, hold significant power and at times it appears like we are at their mercy. However, whatever happens to the market we know that one thing will always remain true. Cryptocurrencies will never stop being decentralized.