EDX Markets CEO Jamil Nazarali is bullish about crypto — even amid a bear market, he says it is the right time to launch a business as the sector prepares itself for the next bull run.
While the crypto exchange began operating in June, following its September launch with the backing of Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, and Fidelity Digital Assets, it is now pushing ahead with beefing up staff.
EDX Markets, which currently has a team of around 20 people in the US, is seeking candidates for several roles, including a chief information security officer, head of risk assessment, and a software engineer, according to its LinkedIn page.
Nazarali, who joined as CEO in September from Citadel — where he was global head of business development, and senior adviser and head of execution services — said that it is hard to hire crypto talent during the bull market.
“The kind of money people were asking for really made it difficult for us. A lot of crypto people had equity in the firms with sky-high valuations. But after a few months of the crypto winter, valuations came down pretty dramatically and a lot of people went underwater,” Nazarali told Financial News.
The freezing of the market meant a different push for prospective candidates.
“People then started looking for new opportunities because their companies were struggling. In bad market conditions, you can hire really good people without crazy bidding wars,” he added.
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EDX Markets, which is headquartered in New Jersey, closed a new funding round in June, including a strategic investment from MIAX Exchange Group’s parent firm, Miami International Holdings.
The push into the cryptoasset sector comes amid a regulatory crackdown on crypto firms in the US, driven by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which began taking aim at exchanges in June. The agency sued Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao on 5 June for operating unregistered exchanges. On 6 June, the SEC sued Coinbase for operating an unregistered securities exchange and a clearing agency.
The moves haven’t derailed EDX’s plans but instead put the focus on the need for regulatory clarity.
“I laud the fact that the UK and EU are developing crypto regulatory frameworks and I look forward to seeing some of those frameworks being developed in the US,” Nazarali said.
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Some of the firm’s confidence is bolstered by the fact its financiers are market giants — Nazarali said that backing from traditional financial firms means clients take EDX Markets “more seriously”.
“One of the hardest things, while building a new business, is getting someone to take your meeting because they get all these sales calls all the time. But when you say, ‘I’m backed by Citadel, Fidelity, Virtu’, they take your meeting, they want to hear your story,” Nazarali told FN.
“All the investors in the EDX Markets have been in this market for decades. All of them are very used to cyclical market conditions and they understand that sometimes investing when the market is the toughest is actually the best opportunity,” he added.
The market is full of exciting crypto talent, he added, which includes young people and executives with a strong background in traditional financial firms.
“What I have seen in the crypto market is that a lot of people in senior-level positions come from traditional finance backgrounds as crypto has not been around for too long,” Nazarali said.
To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email Bilal Jafar
