Fireblocks, an enterprise platform for building blockchain applications and managing digital asset operations, announced the strategic appointment of Michal Ferguson as the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer. Ferguson’s appointment further solidifies Fireblocks’ dedication to advancing the widespread adoption of non-custodial and counterparty-free-risk markets for both individual users and institutions. This appointment comes on the heels of key additions to the team, including Michael Levine from Payoneer as Chief Financial Officer and Madan Gadde, formerly of FIS, as Chief Customer Officer.
“The explosion of new innovations over the last six months has led to a ‘crypto renaissance’ that is spreading like wildfire across financial and non-financial sectors,” said Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks. “In welcoming Michal, the collective prowess of our leadership team drives us towards our goal of serving thousands of new businesses and equipping everyone with the tools they need to securely deliver new onchain apps, products and services at scale.”
High-profile exchange failures have fueled a surge in interest for solutions that mitigate counterparty risk. This trend is reflected in the growing popularity of self-custody wallets and counterparty-free, or decentralized, exchanges and lending markets. A 2023 report by Chainalysis revealed a significant rise in users adopting self-custody solutions, highlighting a preference for managing their own digital assets instead of relying on third-party custodians. In parallel, the growth of the Total Value Locked in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) further shows the increasing interest in alternative financial mechanisms that eliminate the need for intermediaries, thereby reducing counterparty risk.
“It is such a pivotal time to join the Fireblocks team, particularly as we stand at the cusp of another great market expansion,” said Michal Ferguson, Fireblocks CMO. “The platform’s versatility and our commitment to addressing the evolving needs of digital assets’ growing customer base has enabled us to make massive strides across payments, tokenization, and onchain development. With the anticipation of doubling the number of active customers this year, our goal is to ensure that we safeguard every new dollar that gets onboarded into the crypto and digital asset ecosystem.”
Prior to joining Fireblocks, Ferguson built and scaled the go-to-market functions at Snyk, a cybersecurity platform that integrates directly into development tools, workflows, and automation pipelines valued at $7.4 billion. The upgrade in executive leadership follows a stellar year of growth with the Fireblocks platform recording $53 billion in monthly outbound volume and a 160% increase in monthly active wallets. As CMO, Ferguson will spearhead Fireblocks’ charge to make counterparty-risk-free infrastructure ubiquitous across retail and institutional products and services.
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