Bitstamp appointed new CEO

Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux, previously the company’s Europe CEO, became the CEO of the crypto exchange

09.05.2022 - 14:25

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What’s new? The Bitstamp cryptocurrency exchange has announced the appointment of a new CEO to replace Julian Sawyer. He is Jean-Baptiste Graftieaux, who had been holding the position of the company’s head for the European region since 2021. This is stated on Bitstamp’s blog.

Information on the exchange’s blog

What is known about the new CEO? From 2014-2016, Graftieaux served as Bitstamp’s Chief Compliance Officer, where he was responsible for obtaining licenses to conduct business and operations in the EU countries. This made Bitstamp the first regulated cryptocurrency exchange in Europe. In 2021, Graftieaux accelerated the exchange’s development in Europe by securing several institutional partnerships and growing the company’s headcount.

What is known about Bitstamp? The cryptocurrency exchange is based in Luxembourg and was founded by Damijan Merlak and Nejc Kodrič in 2011. In early 2021, Bitstamp imposed additional identification procedures for customers from the Netherlands, banning the transfer of assets to third-party addresses without confirming the ownership of wallets.

What events happened before? In early May, the exchange started blocking accounts of Russian users without the possibility of withdrawing funds. Bitstamp support referred to the events in Ukraine.

In mid-April, Bitstamp started asking its clients for the source of the assets they store on the platform. The new measures were being imposed to comply with the regulatory requirements.

The exchange also published a report according to which 82,4% of institutional investors believe that cryptocurrencies will become the main investment vehicle over the 10 years. 54,3% of respondents reported storing more than 30% of their portfolio in cryptocurrencies and 62,8% trade or invest in digital assets at least twice a week.

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