Crypto custodian BitGo poaches new Chief Revenue Officer from rival Xapo

Cryptocurrency custodian BitGo has announced the appointment of Pete Najarian as the company’s Chief Revenue Officer.

Najarian brings his extensive experience spanning more than 20 years in international finance with institutional investors to BitGo. He joins the firm from Xapo where he served as Senior Vice President of Institutions.

Prior to Xapo, Najarian has held key positions at Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS. He has also served on a number of industry Boards including the Foreign Exchange Management Committee for the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

In his new role at BitGo, he would be responsible for driving the company’s global sales strategy and execution and will report to CEO Mike Belshe.

“Pete has a deep understanding of capital markets and an exceptional breadth of experience in financial services. This makes him a perfect partner for institutional investors who are entering the cryptocurrency market,” said Belshe. “We’re building the financial infrastructure of the future and Pete’s experience in both traditional financial markets and cryptocurrency will be critical. I’m delighted to have him on my leadership team.”

The announcement follows the recent acquisition of Xapo’s institutional business by Coinbase Custody. Reports suggest that BitGo and Fidelity Digital Assets were also in the race to acquire Xapo Institutions.

In its official blog post, BitGo has even claimed that Xapo clients started to reach out to the company as they “are concerned about the safety of their digital assets” due to the acquisition of the latter’s institutional business.

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