Andy Byron has resigned as CEO of Astronomer following a wave of speculation fueled by a viral video from a Coldplay concert, with the move triggering a wave of profits for cryptocurrency traders.
The clip, which showed Byron in a compromising moment with Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot on the event’s “kiss cam,” quickly sparked backlash online.
Byron, who became CEO of the New York-based company in July 2023, officially stepped down on Saturday, July 18. Notably, Astronomer confirmed his resignation via a post on X, naming cofounder Pete DeJoy as interim CEO.
“Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO,” the company said.
It is worth noting that the firm had placed him on leave a day earlier and launched a formal investigation.
Crypto markets cash in
Speculation around Byron’s exit had already been priced into prediction markets. On Polymarket, a blockchain-based betting platform, activity spiked sharply in the hours leading up to the announcement.
The odds of his resignation soared to over 99%, up from 33% the day before, with more than $2 million in volume traded.
Astronomer, known for developing the open-source orchestration tool Apache Airflow, has recently broadened its focus to include AI-powered tools for data observability, quality, and cost optimization.
Despite the controversy, the company emphasized in its statement that it remains committed to product innovation and customer success.
“Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI. While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not,” Astronomer added.
In May 2025, Astronomer was valued between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion following a Series D funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures. It remains privately held with no current plans to go public.
Featured image via Shutterstock
Source: https://finbold.com/cryptocurrency-markets-cash-in-as-astronomer-ceo-resigns/