Cogni hires Gallant FX founder Simon Grunfeld as VP Web3
Simon left the FX business in 2010 when the Dodd-Frank bill was introduced and put into effect in the United States.
Simon Grunfeld, founder of Gallant FX, has joined US digital banking platform as VP of Web3, as per announcement.
Dubbed “the lifestyle-focused banking platform bridging the gap between Web2 and Web3”, NY-based Cogni offers zero-fee banking, access to 55,000 free ATMs worldwide, single-use cards, and access to discounted gift cards, as it builds a fully compliant, digital banking experience for mainstream user adoption with unique features.
Cogni is backed by some big names, including Hanwha Asset Management, CXO Fund, FTX Ventures, Solana Capital, ROK Capital, 35 Ventures, Bluewatch ventures, World Quant, Hard Yakka and other well-known angel investors and venture capital firms.
Simon Grunfeld joins Cogni as VP of Web3 to lead the platform’s Web3 expansion to provide users access to services across traditional banking, crypto, NFTs, gaming, and the metaverse.
Simon Grunfeld, from FX to Web3
Simon Grunfeld is no stranger to the FX industry as he made a splash when he founded Gallant VPS and Gallant FX, a PaaS world leader in Forex trading technologies serving both retail and institutional clients.
The Gallant VPS was a PaaS that was developed in-house to service algo traders globally. Gallant FX was primarily an execution platform, allowing investors to speculate within the FX market.
Simon left the FX business in 2010 when the Dodd-Frank bill was introduced and put into effect in the United States.
In 2014, he founded the crypto solutions and white label platform, Ibinex, to support enterprises in setting up their own crypto exchange. After leaving Ibinex, Simon took a role as SVP of Operations at Apifiny, a digital asset platform based in NY. In that role, Simon led new initiatives, built out the US and APAC offerings, while planning for new ways to bring digital asset products to market. Digital payments, DeFi and tokenization of limited-edition collectibles, were a few of these initiatives.
He is also an investor at Akemona, a tokenization platform for digital assets that introduces digital securities to capital markets.
Simon Grunfeld, VP of Web3 at Cogni, commented: “I’m thrilled to join Cogni, a cutting-edge, “one-stop-shop” banking platform bridging the gaps between Web2 and Web3. Web3 is a massive growth factor in modern financial services, and represents a competitive advantage in making platforms compliant with fiat processing and other third-party integrations.
“Both retail and commercial users sleep a lot better when they know that their platform has the proper safeguards in place to remain in regulatory compliance. At Cogni, not only do we welcome regulatory oversight, our future offerings will propel us as frontrunners in crypto and Web3 regulation.”
