Crypto lender Genesis cuts staff, CEO exits amid executive shuffle

Cryptocurrency brokerage Genesis announced its CEO Michael Moro will step down as it reshuffles its executive team, while a 20% layoff of its 260-person workforce is being widely reported.

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Fast facts

• Chief operating officer Derar Islim will take over as CEO on an interim basis, and Moro will advise the company during the transition, according to a statement from Genesis.

• Genesis has also appointed new senior advisors, as well as leaders in risk, compliance, technology, finance and legal departments.

• Genesis has not responded to Forkast’s request for comment about the executive shuffle.

• Genesis is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the cryptocurrency group Digital Currency Group (DCG), which was hit hard by the insolvency of Three Arrows (3AC), as Genesis provided 50% of the collateral for 3AC’s $2.4 billion loan, the Wall Street Journal reported.

• DCG remains the largest creditor of Three Arrows, and even after the liquidation of the collateral, the group still has a claim on 3AC of up to US$1.2 billion, the report cited with a court filing that was once published on its liquidation page.

• In June, CoinDesk cited an anonymous insider as saying that Genesis could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in a contagion of crypto market insolvency because of its ties to both 3AC and Babel Finance.

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