BlockFi, a crypto financial services firm, recently announced that Alexander Grigoryan has joined the company as the new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and will be responsible for overseeing “all global product development and technology strategy moving forward.”
Zac Prince, CEO and Founder of BlockFi, stated:
“As we look forward to the next level of step function growth in BlockFi’s global suite of products and services, we needed a tech leader who has built global financial technology platforms at scale. Given Alex’s stellar track record of working with billion-dollar global brands in the mobile payments and e-commerce spaces, we knew that Alex was the perfect fit for the role and are ecstatic to have him on board to continue to make BlockFi the crypto platform of choice in 2022,”
Grigoryan reportedly brings over 15 years of engineering and management experience having previously worked in a variety of startups and Fortune 500 companies “scaling and managing large, global engineering organizations as well as spearheading the development of world-class mobile payments technology and customer experience platforms.”
Before BlockFi, Grigoryan was responsible for leading Product Engineering at Skillz, a mobile games platform, and before that “held senior engineering and developer roles at Walmart and PayPal.”
Grigoryan remarked:
“I’m thrilled to be joining such an outstanding team at BlockFi that is truly at the frontier of building and distributing crypto financial products to masses and helping all investors build and grow their crypto wealth. I’m excited for what’s ahead under the leadership of BlockFi’s founders, Zac Prince and Flori Marquez. It’s my belief that technology is the foundation for powering adoption and transformation at scale, and BlockFi is at the forefront of this for the crypto industry.”
BlockFi has also announced the appointment of Deborah Barta as Chief Operating Officer. In this newly formalized role, Barta will be responsible for “driving operational maturity and support the execution of BlockFi’s strategic vision.”
Prince noted:
“BlockFi has been on a journey of professionalizing and formalizing processes and after four hypergrowth years, we’re delighted to share that we’ve hired our first Chief Operating Officer, Deb Barta, Deb is a demonstrated corporate innovator and brings the perfect pairing of strong financial services experience and an entrepreneurial spirit that will thrive at BlockFi.”
As mentioned in the update, Barta joins BlockFi from Mastercard “following a 15-year tenure holding a variety of global roles across several business lines, including Mastercard Labs, creating transformational environments and leading innovative platforms for scale.”
Recently, Barta served as the SVP of Strategy and Provenance, where she was “responsible for the launch of Mastercard’s first commercial blockchain product.” She also served as the CEO of the first-ever startup to “successfully exit from Mastercard Labs, Simplify, and led the company’s award-winning global fintech accelerator, Start Path.”
Barta commented:
“BlockFi has been at the forefront of innovation for crypto financial services and wealth management, which is why I was immediately drawn to them. BlockFi’s unique retail and institutional product offerings paired with its strongest asset, their experienced and passionate team, make it one of the most compelling trailblazers in the space. I’m thrilled to be joining this hugely-promising organization and look forward to bringing Zac and Flori’s strategic vision to light.”
Notably, Barta also “serves on the Boards of the Piatigorsky Foundation, the New York Tech Alliance, and the Skandalaris Center at Washington University in St. Louis.”
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Washington University in St. Louis, an MBA from Webster University, and a Professional Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Stanford University.