Kraken expands leadership team with 5 new hires

People • March 7, 2019, 3:18PM EST

Fresh off its $100 million fundraise, Kraken the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, has brought on five new members to its leadership team, the firm announced Thursday.

Matt Mason joins the firm from Sony Pictures as Kraken's Chief Marketing Officer. At Sony, he was studio head at 1-800-N0TH1NG, an innovation lab focused on game mechanics. Mason also served as head of marketing and Chief Content Officer at BitTorrent.

Steve Hunt joins Kraken as VP of Engineering. Hunt was formerly the CTO at Jump Trading, a quant-based trading firm focused on cryptoassets. Nelson Minier joins Kraken as head of OTC sales & trading. Nelson has nearly 20 years experience managing trading desks for firms including JPMorgan, Citibank, and Credit Suisse.

Marty Beth Buchanan will lead Kraken's legal team as its general counsel. Buchanan has 30 years of legal experience, including eight years as a U.S. Attorney. She was previously a Partner at Bryan Cave LLP, where she was chair of the firm’s digital currency team. Wrapping up the list of new hires is Bob Zagotta, who joins Kraken as head of business operations and strategy. Zagotta joins from his role as Senior Managing Director of Strategy & Execution at CME Group.

About Author

Steven Zheng is a researcher for The Block. He joined The Block in August 2018. Steven graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in economics. Previously, he covered blockchain and crypto at Radicle, a startup analytics firm. He also had brief stints at Cheddar, a media startup, and Bowery Capital, a venture capital firm. He owns bitcoin. Follow Steven on Twitter at: @Dogetoshi