The Swiss digital asset start-up is bolstering its management as co-founder Jan Brzezek focuses on the wider's group's strategy.
Crypto Fund is naming Mathias Maurer its chief executive, effective immediately, the company said in a statement on Monday. Maurer, currently risk and finance chief at the fund arm, replaces co-founder Jan Brzezek (pictured below), who will focus on the parent firm's strategy.
The fund arm's operating chief, Bernadette Leuzinger, will take on the finance role vacated through Maurer's promotion. Michael Zbinden, a portfolio manager, is the fund arm's new investment chief. The unit, alongside a storage and brokerage arm, form Crypto Finance, a bid to grab the entire value chain of manufacturing, managing, storing, and selling digital assets.
«Crypto Winter» Cuts
The company pared its staff nine months ago, amid «crypto winter». Since then, two crypto start-ups have secured Swiss banking licenses: Sygnum and Seba. Brzezek, an ex-UBS banker, initially wanted a banking license as well, but has since distanced himself from the idea.
Crypto Finance opened a Hong Kong branch in November, part of a bid to tap Asian demand. The company launched a passive fund that mirrors the first blue chip index for cryptocurrencies nearly two years ago, last year it won Switzerland's first crypto fund permit as well as a Swiss asset management license for crypto.
