Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_62d9571b61168" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Trust Machines seeks to expand Bitcoin as a decentralized finance platform</li>
 <li>The company raised $150 million earlier this year</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



A startup building an ecosystem of Bitcoin applications has brought aboard Dan Held as an adviser to help the business scale its marketing department and develop product strategies.



Launched earlier this year, <a href="https://www.trustmachines.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Trust Machines</a> raised $150 million in February from Breyer Capital, Digital Currency Group, GoldenTree, Hivemind and Union Square Ventures to expand Bitcoin as a DeFi platform.



The company’s raise was to be used “to extend Bitcoin from being only a passive store of value to being the final settlement layer for a powerful new computational platform,” according to Trust Machines’ website.



“I believe Trust Machines and its team is uniquely positioned to bring DeFi (decentralized finance) applications to the Bitcoin protocol, inevitably unlocking trillions in value,” Held said in a statement.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.danheld.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Held</a>, most recently the director of growth marketing at crypto exchange <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/kraken/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kraken</a>, is stepping down from that role, he revealed in <a href="https://www.theheldreport.com/p/my-next-career-steps?utm_source=email" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a blog post</a> Thursday. He will continue his relationship with the company in a part-time brand ambassador role.



He also founded Zeroblock, which was later acquired by <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/blockchain.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockchain.com</a>, where he worked as director of product. 



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/krakens-dan-held-bitcoin-market-cap-could-settle-between-50t-and-150t/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Held said last October</a> that bitcoin’s market capitalization could ultimately reach between $50 trillion and $150 trillion if the asset succeeds as a global reserve currency, or “gold 2.0.” The comments came before bitcoin’s run-up to an all-time high of nearly $70,000 last November. Bitcoin’s price was below $23,000 on Thursday morning, and its market cap was hovering around $435 billion. 



“Dan has an amazing ability to simplify complex concepts and reach large audiences,” Trust Machines CEO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/muneebali/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Muneeb Ali</a> said in a statement. “We&#8217;re seeing a revival of Bitcoin builders’ culture and Dan&#8217;s work with us on growth marketing can help accelerate the adoption of Bitcoin layers and unlock productive capital through Bitcoin apps.”



Held’s addition to the team comes after <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/asiff-hirji/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Asiff Hirji</a>, president of crypto lender Figure and former president and chief operating officer of <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/tag/coinbase/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase</a>, joined the company as an adviser in June.&nbsp;



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/trust-machines-hires-former-coinbase-bny-mellon-execs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Also joining Trust Machines</a> last quarter was <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/manasmo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Manas Mohapatra</a> as general counsel, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/renapeteshah/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rena Shah</a> as head of operations and strategy, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aubrey-strobel-64bbb7119/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aubrey Strobel</a> as a marketing and communications advisor.&nbsp;&nbsp;



A Trust Machines spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.



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Bitcoin-focused Startup Adds Kraken’s Dan Held

Shalini Nagarajan

<div id="highlights-block_62bc3419ee5ae" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Asiff Hirji will join as an advisor, and Manas Mohapatra comes onboard as general counsel</li>
 <li>The announcement comes as several crypto heavyweights announce layoffs due to difficult market conditions</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Blockchain startup Trust Machines has hired former Coinbase executive <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/asiff-hirji/">Asiff Hirji</a> and former BNY Mellon deputy general counsel <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/manasmo/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Manas Mohapatra</a>.



Hirji, who served as president and chief operating officer at Coinbase between 2017 and 2019, joins the company as an advisor. He has held multiple director positions across various industries, briefly worked in an advisory role for venture capital firm a16z and currently holds a similar position at Warren Buffett-backed Nubank.



Mohapatra joins Trust Machines as general counsel. Among other roles, he’s previously worked as associate general counsel for Twitter for more than four years and as a senior attorney for the US Federal Trade Commission.



Another staff addition is <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/igorsyl/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Igor Sylvester</a>, who will be joining the company’s engineering team. Prior to this role, he worked as a software engineer at Reddit and led a machine-learning team at Facebook.



“I’m excited to share that Trust Machines continues to attract world-class talent during this bear market to help build the world’s largest ecosystem of Bitcoin applications,” Muneeb Ali, CEO of Trust Machines, said in a statement.&nbsp;



Launched in early 2022, the company was co-founded by Ali — who also founded <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=Stacks" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Stacks</a> — and Princeton University computer science professor JP Singh. It <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trust-machines-raises-150m-funding-212500209.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised $150 million</a> in February, counting Breyer Capital, Digital Currency Group and GoldenTree among participant investors.



The name &#8220;trust machines&#8221; is a&nbsp;play on Turing machines — the first computer invented by Alan Turing at Princeton.



The company said it plans to make further key hires in the second half of this year. New hires in the cryptoasset industry have dwindled as more companies announce cost-cutting measures and slow down hiring efforts in a challenging macroeconomic environment. Heavyweight names such as <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-cut-workforce-ceo-wary-of-potential-recession/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Coinbase</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/gemini-joins-growing-list-of-crypto-exchanges-cutting-staff-amid-downturn/">Gemini</a> have announced plans to cut staff.



But not everyone in the industry appears to be significantly affected. Earlier this month, Immutable’s co-founder Robbie Ferguson <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/now-is-not-the-time-to-take-our-foot-off-the-pedal-says-immutable-co-founder/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told Blockworks</a> it was on a hiring spree and “now is not the time to take our foot off the pedal.”&nbsp; Exchanges OKX and Bitget too have announced plans to <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/latest-in-crypto-hiring-okx-bitget-among-companies-boosting-headcount/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">significantly boost</a> their headcounts.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.