Key Takeaways:
- Michael Paleokrassas, managing director of trading, and Reed Werbitt, cash trading head, Joshua Lim, head of derivatives, and Matt Ballensweig, co-head of sales and trading, have left the firm in the last week.
- Genesis is one of the biggest creditors of the now bankrupt 3AC, with a concerning $2.36 billion owed to the firm.
- In August, Genesis’s CEO stopped down, and it cut its workforce by 20%
The past week has witnessed several senior executives at crypto brokerage Genesis bidding farewell to the company amidst an increasingly volatile market. Matt Ballensweig, co-head of sales and trading, announced his departure on Tuesday after working at the company for more than five years.
“I will stay close to the firm as an advisor for the foreseeable future and take some time to travel and enjoy the holidays with friends and family before delving into my own next chapter,” his tweet announcing his departure reads.
He further added over the last month, he has worked on transitioning his core responsibilities to a handful of trusted colleagues who will step up to run our front-line businesses.
Michael Paleokrassas, managing director of trading, and Reed Werbitt, head of cash trading, Joshua Lim, head of derivatives at Genesis, have also left the firm recently. Genesis plunged into a liquidity crisis following its exposure to the over-leveraged hedge fund Three Arrows Capital(3AC).
As per reports, Genesis was the biggest creditor of the now bankrupt 3AC with a concerning $2.36 billion owed to the firm, including pledging over $90 million worth of AVAX and NEAR.
Genesis issued a 3AC a margin call via the American Arbitration Association in an attempt to make up the collateral, but 3AC, however, has defaulted on it.
Last month, the firm cut 20% of its 260-person workforce to reduce costs. The same month August also witnessed its CEO Michael Moro stepping down as the liquidity crisis started gripping the company.
Genesis Trading, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, started in 2013 is now one of the largest crypto brokerages for global institutional investors.
As per company reports, Genesis originated over $44.3 billion in loans in the first quarter this year, while its active loans rose 17% to $14.6 billion at the end of the quarter. The firm also reported over $17 billion in spot volume trading during the second quarter.
