Celsius Network CEO resigns, FTX U.S. president steps down

Yahoo Finance's David Hollerith breaks down a number of leadership changes shaking up the crypto world as the Celsius CEO and FTX president announce their departures.

Video Transcript

DAVE BRIGGS: Leadership changes coming to two crypto firms today. David Hollerith here with all the details. David, what are we learning?

DAVID HOLLERITH: Dave, Alex Mashinsky, co-founder and CEO of the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network, resigned this morning. He said in a statement that he regrets his continued role as CEO has become an increasing distraction and that he's very sorry about the difficult financial circumstances facing Celsius customers.

Now, prior to his resignation, the leadership-- in his leadership position, Mashinsky had become a key focus for the bankruptcy proceeding with dozens of customers turned unsecured creditors alleging that his public statements around the business's health misled them.

Now, added to that, the industry insiders have also issued lawsuits and reports that have shared claims suggesting that Mashinsky also manipulated the price of Celsius's token for his own personal gain. On a slightly better-- or I guess, we could say, lighter note-- Brett Harrison, president of FTX US, the US operating subsidiary of crypto exchange FTX, is also stepping down as of today.

Harrison announced this over Twitter. And with the change, he is becoming an advisor to FTX US, having cited his desire to work as a financial technologist, and yet remain in the sector.

In a related change, FTX US will also move its office to Miami, Florida. And as to whether there will be another president for FTX US, the company has not yet made it clear.

DAVE BRIGGS: A lot of office, a lot of crypto action down there in Miami, isn't there? Meanwhile, Microsoft also led a big funding round for a Web 3 data startup. What can you tell us?

DAVID HOLLERITH: Yeah, today Microsoft's venture arm, M12, led a $20 million strategic funding round for a decentralized data storage startup called Space Time. Now, this is sort of an infrastructure firm that specializes in what you would think is the crypto version of cloud data. And its aim is to sort of make that data more accessible to not only companies that aren't working in the crypto space, but also just companies in general working in the space who want to have more efficient access.

Now, as part of the round, Space and Time will integrate with Microsoft Azure, which will give Azure customers an onramp to blockchain native data, according to the release. Generally speaking, the venture, obviously, has slipped for the sector this year compared to last year's bull market. But this year, the trend has been-- the VC firms have been eyeing early stage startups with a focus on crypto infrastructure companies such as this.