PANews reported on October 24 that according to CoinDesk, Switzerland-based cryptocurrency market-making company Portofino Technologies received approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) earlier this year to serve institutional cryptocurrency clients in the UK. However, in recent months, the company has lost a large number of employees due to the dismissal of its co-founder and chief financial officer.
In July, Portofino's COO and co-founder Alex Casimo and CFO Jae Park were both fired. This subsequently triggered the resignation of Vincent Prieur, head of strategy and operations, and Shane O'Callaghan, head of global business development, as well as a large number of employees from the company. People familiar with the matter said that since the two executives were fired, 10 to 12 people have left or are fulfilling their separation obligations, accounting for 30%-40% of the company's total employees at the time.
A Portofino Technologies spokesman said the company had hired new chief financial officer Mark Blackborough and senior sales trader Olivier Sultan; the company has been actively hiring since then and currently has four job openings; and the company's headcount has returned to summer levels.
