Diogo Mónica, co-founder and former president of institution-focused crypto platform Anchorage Digital, has become a general partner at crypto VC shop Haun Ventures. Mónica will transition to a role as executive Chair of Anchorage’s board while his co-founder Nathan McCauley continues on as CEO.
Mónica co-founded Anchorage in 2017 as an early attempt to help institutions get exposure to crypto. Anchorage Digital Bank is still the only federally chartered crypto bank in the US. The company most recently raised a $350 million Series D round in late 2021.
Read more: New block trading offering seeks to boost RIA crypto access
Despite his new role, Mónica told Axios he will still assist Anchorage Digital with things like strategy and executive hiring decisions.
“To say Diogo is a leader within our industry is an understatement: He’s among a pioneering set of founders early to crypto that revolutionized digital asset custody to create a new standard for institutional participation in crypto,” Katie Haun, namesake and CEO of Haun Ventures, said in a blog post.
At Haun, Mónica joins a smaller team, which currently has three partners along with Haun, according to its website. The firm recently led a funding round for on-chain ownership and verification startup Witness.
Read more: A16z general partner Kathryn Haun to start own crypto fund
The path from founder to VC investor is not an uncommon one in the venture-heavy crypto space. Notably, Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam left the company in 2017 to co-found the crypto-native VC firm Paradigm.
Legal hires
Ionic Digital, the bitcoin mining company spun out of Celsius’ bankruptcy estate, made Charles B. Ammann its chief legal officer this week. Ammann joins the upstart firm that is already mining bitcoin across multiple sites in Texas. Celsius creditors are meant to become company shareholders once Ionic becomes publicly traded.
Read more: Company formed from Celsius bankruptcy estate launches bitcoin mining operation
Elsewhere in the legal realm, liquid staking developer Alluvial brought on Evan Thomas to be its general counsel, the company announced in a blog post. Thomas joins from a Canadian consumer fintech firm named Wealthsimple, where he worked as head of legal.
Other notable hiring news
- Kayla Phillips became a principal on Hivemind Capital’s crypto venture team.
- Paul Brody became chairperson, and Karen Scarbrough was tapped as executive director for enterprise blockchain group Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.
- Oliver Sleafer was promoted to chief financial officer of the Solana-based wallet and exchange Backpack, according to his LinkedIn page.
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Source: https://blockworks.co/news/anchorage-digital-cofounder-joins-vc-firm