Blythe Masters is stepping down as chief executive officer of Digital Asset Holdings, a startup that provides distributed ledger technology, for personal reasons.
AG Gangadhar, who joined the company’s board in April, was named chairman and will serve as interim CEO, according to a December 18 statement from Digital Asset. Masters will remain a board member, strategic advisor, and shareholder. She has led the firm as CEO since 2015.
“Digital Asset has evolved from an ambitious idea to a truly global software engineering firm,” Masters said in the statement. Gangadhar “brings what’s needed to guide the company through its next phase,” she said.
He has been actively involved in the company’s engineering and product strategy, bringing expertise from previous technology roles at Google, Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com, and Uber Technologies. The company argued that his engineering background will help Digital Asset meet growing demand for distributed ledger technology in financial services and health care, among other industries.
Founded in 2014, the fintech company says it has close to 200 employees in New York, London, Budapest, Zurich, Hong Kong, and Sydney.
[II Deep Dive: Fintech Finance’s Power Players]
Masters, a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive, is not the only famous financier on Digital Asset’s board.
Sally Krawcheck, former CEO of Bank of America’s wealth management business and the co-founder of Ellevest, is an independent board member, according to Digital Asset’s website. In July, the startup announced that Tony James, vice chairman of Blackstone Group, was joining its board.
