Crypto Hiring: Crypto Council for Innovation adds Circle and Solana, stocks up on policy hires

The Crypto Council for Innovation brought on two new policy-related hires this week while also announcing Circle and the Solana Foundation as new members.

The council is an industry alliance that is involved in the policy realm — from anti-money laundering (AML) rules in Europe to Coinbase’s ongoing feud with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Circle and Solana join an alliance of firms that includes stalwarts like Andreessen Horowitz and Fidelity Digital Assets.

The Crypto Council for Innovation is based in Washington DC, according to Crunchbase.

The organization brought on Ryan Eagen as associate director of government affairs and Patrick Kirby as policy counsel. Eagen previously worked in the office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Kirby came from a government relations job at the law firm Dentons.

The policy and government affairs hires come as US crypto advocates score a win with spot bitcoin ETFs gaining SEC approval. It’s also a presidential election year, though crypto-focused GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy recently dropped out of the race.

“As part of @crypto_council, the Foundation looks forward to collaborating on responsible innovation, advocating for sensible Web3 regulations, and advancing blockchain for social good,” the Solana Foundation wrote on X.

“We are proud to join @crypto_council and share our perspective and commitment to responsible growth of open money,” Circle said.

Company behind Axie Infinity taps CFO

Ellen Gormley has been named the first chief financial officer of Sky Mavis, the blockchain game developer behind the popular title Axie Infinity.

Gormley has a track record in Web3, most recently serving as chief financial officer of DeFi platform Radix after spending four years at blockchain technology firm Bitfury.

“My role is to ensure that Sky Mavis has the best financial framework for sustainable growth and leverage my experience to optimize operational efficiency,” Gormley said in a press release reviewed by Blockworks.

Sky Mavis survived a $625 million hack of the Ronin Bridge in 2022. It has continued to develop new games, releasing the card-battling game Apeiron in December. Despite the hack and woes with its tokenomics, Axie Infinity remains popular, seeing the most volume of any blockchain game over the past 30 days, according to DappRadar.

Other notable hiring news

The 1inch DAO retained the Swiss consulting firm Storm Partners to protect 1inch’s members from personal legal liability for the DAO’s actions.
Trident Digital, the firm being contracted to boost on-chain liquidity for PayPal’s stablecoin, hired Adam Oozeer to be its director of sales.

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