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Patrick Hillmann confirmed in a tweet that would be departing the company "on good terms" after a two-year stint. The departure comes amid a trying time for Binance.

Binance's chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann has confirmed he is leaving the crypto exchange amid reports that other top compliance executives in the United States have handed in their resignations.

On July 6, Patrick Hillmann tweeted: "I am leaving [Binance], but I’m doing so on good terms."

"I’ve been here for two years and it’s simply time for me to move on to the next challenge," said Hillmann, adding that he is now expecting his second child, "so the time is right for me to step aside."

Apologies for any typos, but I was not expecting to be tweeting about this today.

It’s true that I am leaving @Binance, but I’m doing so on good terms. I continue to respect and support @cz_binance and am grateful for having had the incredible opportunity to work under his…
— Patrick Hillmann (@PRHillmann) July 6, 2023

The tweet follows a report from Fortune, that suggested several Binance executives including Hillmann left the exchange over CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao's response to the DOJ's investigation, citing an internal source.

General counsel Han Ng and senior vice president for compliance Steven Christie were reported to have left the exchange.

In response to reports, Zhao tweeted it was "FUD," claiming the reasons for the executive departures are "dreamed up" and "completely wrong."

4. More FUD about some departures. Yes, there is turnover (at every company). But the reasons dreamed up by the “news” are completely wrong.

As an organization that has grown from 30 to 8000 people in 6 years, from 0 to the world’s largest crypto exchange in less than 5 months…
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) July 6, 2023

A separate report from Bloomberg, also citing a source, stated that Binance's head of legal for APAC and MENA, Eleanor Hughes, will become the new general counsel replacing Ng, while Noah Perlamn, who joined as chief compliance officer in February, will remain at the company.

Binance pointed to Zhao's tweet when asked for comment on the matter.

The DOJ is reportedly investigating Binance for allowing Russians to use the exchange in violations of U.S. sanctions.

In June, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance for allegedly offering unregistered securities and misusing customer funds among other charges.

The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also sued Binance in March for allegedly failing to properly register with the regulator.

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Update (July 6, 11:15 pm UTC): This article has been updated with a tweet from Zhao and response from Binance.

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Genesis director to step down and move into advisory role

September 28, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain

"My line is always open and I can’t wait to continue building and learning with all of you," says Ballensweig.

On Wednesday, Matthew Ballensweig, managing director of cryptocurrency broker Genesis, announced via Linkedin that he was formally leaving his post after over five years of tenure. Ballensweig is also the co-head of sales and trading. As told by Ballensweig, he has been transitioning his core responsibilities to a handful of trusted colleagues who will be taking the front-line role.

"I am forever thankful to both Digital Currency Group [Genesis' parent company] and Genesis for giving me the opportunity to build a capital markets business from the ground up. We built an eight-person company huddled in a small office in New York City back in 2017 to a sell-side trading behemoth doing billions in volumes in multiple countries today."

Ballensweig will stay with the firm in the foreseeable future as an advisor and will "take some time to travel and enjoy the holidays with friends and family before delving into my own next chapter." Previously, Genesis' CEO Michael Moro stepped down in August as the company began a transition period.

It appears that Genesis' bourgeoning business took a tough hit as part of the overall crypto winter. In July, Moro confirmed that Genesis had investment exposure in the now liquidated Singaporean crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC). According to Moro, the firm had mitigated losses but nevertheless issued a margin call to 3AC that fell on deaf ears.

Despite challenging conditions, Ballensweig says that he will "absolutely" be staying in the crypto ecosystem. "My mission will be to help facilitate the next cycle of growth and mainstream adoption through my expertise in capital and information flow, trading and lending, yield, venture, and bridging institutional participants with crypto-native opportunities," he stated.

9/ I am excited to share more about what I want to do next with anyone who’s interested in chatting. My line is always open and I can’t wait to continue building and learning with all of you.
— Matt Ballensweig (@MattBallen4791) September 28, 2022

Former SushiSwap CTO writes short reflection about leadership failures at blockchain DEX

December 11, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

"In the end, ultimately, I failed to deliver because of my compounding failures and will incorporate this knowledge into my next project," said Delong.

On Friday, Joseph Delong, former chief technology officer of decentralized exchange, or DEX, SushiSwap, published a brief reflection of experiences during his tenure.

Delong unilaterally resigned two days prior, citing internal structural chaos among developers behind the popular DEX. In explaining his decision, Delong outlined failures to scale operations, lack of organization skills, problematic contributors and poor communication as the primary reasons. On Twitter and among blockchain personalities alike, Delong received mostly praise for coming public with his experience and learning from his mistakes.

According to Delong, he did not inform the Sushi community when problems began to surface among the developers he managed, nor did he engage with users enough to build rapport for the project. In addition, Delong talked about using his personal Twitter presence to share his feelings about SushiSwap developments. This was a polarizing decision among the SushiSwap community. Some users have praised him for being authentic with his feelings, while others labeled the move as unprofessional or inconsiderate to stakeholders.

Prior to being chief technology officer at SushiSwap, Delong was a senior software engineer at ConsenSys. Due, in part, to his leadership, SushiSwap has grown to become the 13th largest DEX by trading volume. However, the protocol has also faced its share of setbacks.

In summing up the experience, Delong stated:

I think the imperfect birth of Sushi has led to additional problems, and in my next project, I will have the capability to structure an organization to empower the contributors. Thank you for allowing me to lead Sushi through this time, and I wish Sushi the best of luck.

I wrote an article detailing my failures in leadership at Sushi https://t.co/cJOovqW45A pic.twitter.com/OjNNW0ExQY
— Joseph Delong (@josephdelong) December 10, 2021

SushiSwap CTO resigns citing internal structural chaos

December 9, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

"I am now going to take a one-month vacation with my wife and kids and go build my next project. Long live Sushi," said Joseph Delong.

Late Wednesday, Joseph Delong, chief technology officer of SushiSwap, the thirteenth largest decentralized exchange, or DEX, by trading volume, tendered his immediate resignation from the role. Explaining his decision, Delong gave the following statement:

"I wish Sushi the best and am saddened that Sushi is so imperiled within and without. The chaos that is occurring now is unlikely to result in a resolution that will leave the DAO as much more of a shadow than it once was without a radical structural transformation."

In the interest of the Sushi Community I am resigning as CTO effective immediately. I very much enjoyed the things that we built together and will look back positively on this moment. pic.twitter.com/7pZsQuPgup
— Joseph Delong (@josephdelong) December 8, 2021

Previously, Delong had voiced disappointment over the inability for SushiSwap to launch on Optimism, a layer two scaling solution for Ethereum (ETH). Delong also claimed to receive little support from centralized exchanges about hackers' identities after the SushiSwap’s token launchpad experienced a $3M hack, saying it was the "hardest day of my life so far."

But it appears that it wasn't simply the technical setbacks of the project that played a role in Delong's decision. In a series of follow-up tweets after the announcement, Delong posted screenshots of alleged harassment from SushiSwap users, to which he then cited "it’s the community that does it for me."

"I highly recommend the installation of a C-suite from outside the DAO [decentralized autonomous organization] and give them the tools to effectively manage a team. Be wary of any self-proclaimed leaders arising from the current core team," said Delong.

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Resignation