BitMEX taps executives from Coinbase Europe and Blocknox as CRO and COO

BitMEX has appointed Raphael Polansky as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Marcus Hughes as Chief Risk Officer (CRO) as part of an ongoing executive reshuffle amid the revamped mission of the cryptocurrency specialist, which includes several new business lines.

The upcoming business segments are Spot, Brokerage, Custody, Information Products, and Academy, and will be added to the BitMEX operation in line with the ‘beyond derivatives’ strategy.

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Raphael Polansky was Managing Director at Blocknox

Raphael Polansky joins BitMEX as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO), reporting directly to BitMEX’s CEO, Alexander Höptner. He will be in charge of managing the company’s operations and infrastructure, driving business growth and market expansion, as the company becomes a full crypto investment ecosystem.

The industry veteran has played key roles in crypto and exchange operations, having been Managing Director at Blocknox for almost two years, where he set up and operated its crypto custody platform, and led the company’s business strategy, IT development, and operations.

His almost one and a half decades of high-level management and financial markets experience include leadership positions at Boerse
Stuttgart and Deutsche Boerse.

Raphael Polansky, Chief Operating Officer (COO) at BitMEX, commented: “I’m grateful for the opportunity to drive the continued growth of BitMEX. We have a strong pipeline of projects planned for 2022 and beyond, and a solid team of talented and innovative people with a common goal of building a better global financial ecosystem. I’m excited to lead our crypto operations and expansion during such a transformational time for us and the industry as a whole.”

Alexander Höptner, Chief Executive Officer, said: “I’m thrilled to have Raphael join our leadership team as COO. His wealth of crypto,
financial markets, and management experience is proving to be instrumental in delivering greater operational efficiency, coordination, and synergy during the next phases of our growth.”

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Marcus Hughes was Managing Director of Coinbase in Europe

Marcus Hughes also joined BitMEX this week, to serve on the executive board, with responsibility for BitMEX’s Regulatory Affairs, Risk, Legal, and Compliance functions. The new Chief Risk Officer (CRO) will be reporting directly to chief executive Alexander Höptner.

As part of his role, Hughes will guide the firm’s legal strategy, lead engagement with regulators and policymakers around the world, and build out our risk framework and compliance programme as we expand into new markets and bring BitMEX’s product suite to a growing international customer base.

Prior to joining BitMEX, Marcus was Managing Director of Coinbase’s European business, where he worked closely with product teams to build and scale the business as well as establish and develop relationships with regulators across the world. Prior to joining Coinbase, Marcus spent almost a decade at Morgan Stanley.

Marcus Hughes, Chief Risk Officer at BitMEX, said: “I’m very bullish about the growth potential of BitMEX, which over the past year has
added top-tier talent, deepened its product portfolio, and established the foundation for its ‘beyond derivatives’ strategy. The next stage in our evolution will be characterised by an expansion of the platform’s capabilities, paired with an equally ambitious push into markets worldwide. World-class risk management, compliance, and regulatory affairs programmes will be key enablers of this next phase of growth for BitMEX.”

“Marcus’ appointment marks a major step forward for BitMEX’s global expansion and his experience will be invaluable as we scale the business, implement our ‘beyond derivatives’ strategy, and navigate the evolving global regulatory environment. We’re very happy to welcome Marcus to the BitMEX family”, said CEO Alexander Höptner.