Crypto exchange Kraken has appointed Gemini UK boss Blair Halliday as its new CEO for its UK operations. Blair Halliday has served as the UK managing director for the Winklevoss twins’ Gemini exchange, and this means he will be taking on the same role at the Kraken exchange.

According to a statement issued Friday, Halliday will replace Curtis Ting, who has been appointed as global senior managing director to be in charge of covering multiple jurisdictions.

Halliday will oversee Kraken’s “UK business, regulatory and policy relationships” as well as its 350-employee base, according to the report.

Stephanie Ramezan, Gemini’s former director of business development, will replace Halliday as the new general manager in charge of UK operations.

Halliday had been with Gemini since 2020, first serving as Chief Compliance Officer for Europe before being promoted to UK Managing Director in July 2020.

Amid a bear market, there have been a number of job changes among crypto executives as some join other Web3 firms, leaving investors uncertain.

Alex Mashinsky, the CEO of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius, was one of the last executives to recently resign from his positions. The surge in outflows has raised serious concerns about investor deposits on crypto platforms.

In August, ZebPay CEO Avinash Shekhar resigned from the older cryptocurrency exchange to begin his start-up in the Web 3.0 landscape. His new venture is reportedly dealing with crypto tax compliance issues.

In February 2022, WazirX co-founders Nischal Shetty and Siddharth Menon stepped down from their day-to-day duties at the company, India’s leading cryptocurrency exchange. Menon deals with the Tegro marketplace for game assets, on the other hand, Shetty established his Web3 Shardeum project.

While investors’ money would not be lost if executives change positions, the moves mark the beginning of changes within the organizations. Protecting investor funds is the core tenet of every exchange, but these staff have different sets of values.

When the market goes up, people usually don’t see much change in top management. But in a bear phase, managerial changes are frequently reported due to market and shareholder pressure. Market cycles could not only eliminate unfit businesses, but also the people associated with them.

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