Former Kraken, Galaxy and Legg Mason execs join CrossTower leadership team

New York, Aug. 12, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CrossTower, a new exchange operator founded by capital markets veterans on a mission to mainstream digital asset investing and trading, today announced a series of senior executive appointments, including Christophe Michot, Director of Sales; John Tavares, Head of Operations; and Vanessa Williams, Chief Compliance Officer (CCO).  The stature of CrossTower’s newest team members underscores the firm’s growth and ability to attract top talent.

Michot, a former Account Manager at Kraken, joined CrossTower in June as Director of Sales. In this role, Michot is responsible for expanding CrossTower’s strategic relationships and platform liquidity, which have steadily grown since its official launch in May. 

“Since trading my first Bitcoin in 2012 to building out Kraken’s global Client Success team, I have witnessed incredible change in the digital asset markets,” said Michot.  “I’m honored to be working with CrossTower’s market veterans and visionaries to further the evolution of the financial industry.” 

A former Director of Trading Technology at Galaxy Digital, John Tavares joined CrossTower in April as Head of Operations. At CrossTower, Tavares is responsible for overseeing market operations, product development and technology. During his time at Galaxy Digital, Tavares managed development of the firm’s electronic trading technology as well as the firm’s settlement and pre-trade risk controls.

 “I’ve known CrossTower’s co-founders Kristin Boggiano and Kapil Rathi for years, so when I learned about what they were doing, I was excited to join them,” said Tavares.  “I’m thrilled to leverage my experience to improve our institutional and retail product offerings and to build a brand with a senior team that understands what it takes to introduce disruptive innovation to the financial industry.”

In January, CrossTower named Vanessa Williams as its CCO.  Williams has more than 15 years of experience managing regulatory compliance risk in the capital markets, with subject matter expertise in anti-money laundering and privacy. Prior to CrossTower, Williams served as CCO of a Legg Mason-owned quantitative and multi-asset strategy investment advisory firm. 

“The opportunity to build something from the ground up in the cryptocurrency space was one of the reasons I was excited to come on board,” said Williams. “Seeing the passion of the senior leadership team fortified my decision to join this dedicated and hard-working team.”

The three hires come on the heels of CrossTower’s launch in May and seed funding announcement in June. CrossTower supports highly active order books and tight spreads in the most widely traded cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, LiteCoin, USDC, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, Stellar, Chainlink, Basic Attention Token and ZCash.  Those interested in trading on CrossTower’s platform can access it here.

“We’re gratified to see that our passion to build a best-in-class multi-asset exchange is shared by our newest team members, putting us in an even stronger position to continue building the momentum we’ve seen since our successful launch in May,” said CrossTower Co-Founder and CEO Kapil Rathi.

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ABOUT CROSSTOWER

CrossTower is an exchange operator founded by capital markets veterans on a mission to mainstream digital asset trading and investing. We have built a multi-asset platform for institutional and individual investors with best-in-class safeguards, services and capabilities to make the next-generation financial markets a reality. CrossTower has methodically built its platform, leveraging its trading experience, technology, operational infrastructure, innovative pricing as well as regulatory and client service models, to ensure the success of the exchange at launch and well into the future. For more information, visit www.crosstower.com.

Monica VanHorn
CrossTower
917-446-6358
[email protected]