Former Kraken COO Robert Zagotta Joins Bitstamp as US CEO
He will help the exchange to grow its business further in the country.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp has hired Robert Zagotta, who most recently was the Chief Operating Officer at rival Kraken, as its Chief Executive Officer for the United States.
In an announcement on Wednesday, Bitstamp detailed that Zagotta will lead the exchange’s operations in the US. He will focus on the company’s day-to-day operations and will accelerate its growing business in the region.
Bitstamp’s Global CEO, Julian Sawyer said: “The U.S. has a unique regulatory landscape and a huge potential upside in the digital asset industry. By appointing a regional CEO for Bitstamp, it demonstrates the importance that the United States is playing for our global exchange.”
An Experienced Executive
Zagotta became a well-known figure in the crypto industry after his more than three-year-long tenure at Kraken. Before that, he was a Senior Strategist and Advisor at insurance brokerage Gallagher and spent almost half a decade at Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group in a couple of executive roles.
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The industrial engineering graduate started his career in his core field in 1988 but moved to PricewaterhouseCoopers in the early 90s as a Senior Manager and Principal Consultant. Additionally, he co-founded a strategy advisory firm.
“Bitstamp and the entire digital asset industry have an amazing opportunity and obligation to bridge the gaps between traditional finance and crypto in smart innovative ways to get more people, from the crypto newcomers to large institutions, involved,” Zagotta said in a statement.
Headquartered in Luxembourg, Bitstamp has shifted its focus to the US market and is receiving success. According to the exchange, the number of its US customers skyrocketed by 570 percent, and the asset under management increased by 281 percent in the first six months of 2021.
Other than the US, Bitstamp is shuffling its top management. Its Global CEO Sawyer himself joined last October, replacing Co-Founder Nejc Kodrič. Furthermore, the exchange revealed that it is looking for a new Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer.
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