Compartilhe este artigo
Digital Asset's Europe Head Is Latest to Leave Enterprise Blockchain Startup
The upheaval continues at Digital Asset, with the news that Gavin Wells will step down as head of Europe.
Por Ian Allison
Make us preferred on Google
The upheaval continues at enterprise blockchain company Digital Asset (DA), with the news that Gavin Wells will step down from his role as head of Europe next month.
Oliver Hugh-Jones, head of business development for Europe, will assume all of Wells' client-facing responsibilities, a spokeswoman for DA confirmed to CoinDesk Thursday. Wells' departure was reported earlier by Risk, a financial industry publication.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
“I joined Digital Asset to learn about the technology, but I stayed because of the people I met there,” Wells told the magazine.
It is not clear where he will go. Before joining the company, Wells had senior foreign exchange positions at British clearing house LCH and global megabank Citigroup.
Key departures
Just over a week ago CoinDesk revealed that James Powell, CIO and CTO of engineering at Digital Asset, had left the software company. Powell’s responsibilities at DA were assumed by Shaul Kfir, the CTO of architecture and a member of the founding team.
These moves came in the wake of CEO Blythe Masters stepping down in December. Her departure surprised many in the enterprise blockchain industry, since the Wall Street veteran was considered the very personification of DA, and, to some degree, of the distributed ledger technology (DLT) space itself.
DA is seen as something of a bellwether for industrial-grade DLT upgrades and integration thanks to its undertaking to replace the Australian Stock Exchange’s (ASX) CHESS clearing and settlement system. Although the deadline for that project has been pushed back to early 2021, ASX told CoinDesk in an interview last year that Masters’ departure would not impact its timeline.
The 175-employee DA has also been hiring. Zohar Hod, a trading technology veteran, was brought in as its chief strategy officer, coinciding with Powell’s departure. Hod reports to co-founder and chief operating officer Yuval Rooz.
Image of 4 World Trade Center in New York, headquarters of Digital Asset, via Wikimedia Commons
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
More For You
Solana’s new phase is ‘much more about finance,’ says Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante
The Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a financial infrastructure, Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante told CoinDesk.
What to know:
- Solana’s latest phase looks a lot less flashy than its memecoin-fueled highs, and that may be the goal.
- Armani Ferrante, CEO of crypto exchange Backpack, told CoinDesk in an interview the Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a more sober focus: financial infrastructure. A
- fter years of experimentation as the wider crypto industry focused on NFTs, games and social tokens, attention is now shifting back toward decentralized finance, trading and payments.
Top Stories
