Another Crypto Exec Leaves: Argo Blockchain’s CFO Resigns

One of the leading bitcoin miners – Argo Blockchain – announced that its CFO and Executive Director Alex Appleton resigned from his position.

Several other crypto (or related) executives have abandoned their posts during the prolonged bear market. Such examples are Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX, Alex Mashinsky of Celsius Network, Jesse Powell of Kraken, Michael Saylor of MicroStrategy, and many others.

The Latest on the List

Alex Appleton, who spent two and a half years at Argo Blockchain, will no longer serve as the CFO of the company. According to a post on Twitter, he will focus on opportunities different from the crypto mining sector.

Argo announced today that Alex Appleton has resigned from his positions as CFO and Executive Director to pursue other opportunities.

We thank him for his significant contributions and wish him all the best in his future endeavours!

RNS: https://t.co/OEX1DmMcWl#ARB $ARBK #BTC

— Argo (@ArgoBlockchain) February 1, 2023

Upon departing, Appleton said he was proud of his achievements at the firm. He added that the niche has “great potential” and wished his former colleagues “all the best” for the future. 

His leaving comes shortly after Argo Blockchain agreed to sell its Helios facility to Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital for $65 million and thus reduce its overall debt. 

The crypto winter and a severe storm that passed through Texas around Christmas severely crippled the firm’s operations. It mined only 147 BTC in December, around 25% less than the production levels registered in November. Argo held 141 BTC as of the end of 2022, equaling approximately $3.2 million (calculated at today’s prices).

Who Else Resigned?

The list of executives related to the crypto industry who stepped down from their posts spreads far and wide, and here are some of the most famous individuals.

The departure spree started with Jack Dorsey – the former CEO of Twitter and a keen advocate of bitcoin – who resigned at the end of 2021. 

The trend escalated during the 2022 bear market. The CEO of Compass Mining – Whit Gibbs – and CFO Jodie Fisher stepped down in June, while Binance Labs lost its leader – Bill Qian. CEO of blockchain company Algorand – Steven Kokinos – followed suit in July.

August started with the resignation of the bitcoin enthusiast Michael Saylor. He shifted from the CEO of MicroStrategy to its Executive Chairman. 

Kraken’s Founder Jesse Powell joined the club in September after serving as the CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange for over a decade. 

Genesis’ Michael Moro left a few days later, but that did not ease the situation of the platform. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of January 2023.

Celsius’ Alex Mashinsky, BitMEX’s Alexander Höptner, and Polkadot’s Gavin Wood also tendered their resignation.

The infamous crash of FTX prompted a new wave of departing execs in November last year. Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, who run Alameda Research, lost their jobs and later pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges that they helped Sam Bankman-Fried orchestrate a fraudulent scheme.

SBF also resigned as the CEO of FTX but claimed he should not be blamed for the gigantic collapse of his trading venue that prompted multi-billion investor losses.