Kraken Taps Gemini’s Blair Halliday to Lead its UK Market

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has hired the former Gemini United Kingdom head, Blair Halliday, to oversee its UK operations.

As the Managing Director of the Kraken UK jurisdiction, Halliday’s focus will be solely on expanding Kraken’s presence in the UK. He would be in charge of the commercial, regulatory and political relationship of Kraken in the region.

Before now, Curtis Ting was the head of both the Kraken UK and Europe markets. With Halliday now at the helm of affairs, Ting will serve as the Senior Managing Director, overseeing business in multiple jurisdictions. For now, this will leave the European Kraken market without a designated head to solely oversee its operations.

Based on his LinkedIn profile, Halliday has resumed fully with Kraken. Going down memory, lane, Halliday served as the Winklevoss firm Gemini’s UK Managing Director for almost two and half years. He served as the Chief Compliance Officer for its Europe office for eleven months. Although he had started working as the Gemini UK MD even as its Europe CCO.

Before that, he was on the team of San Francisco-based fintech firm Circle as the head of its compliance team. MD Halliday has occupied many positions including working as a financial analyst, fraud officer, and director across several ecosystems. Altogether, he brings on board almost 25 years of experience across key industries.

Kraken Leverage UK Crypto Atmosphere for Expansion

The United Kingdom has been making moves to improve its crypto ecosystem and plans to make the country the global crypto hub.

The UK regulatory watchdog, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has specifically expanded its crypto department to allow for experts in the field. Recently, the FCA onboarded Binu Paul as the head of its digital asset team.

Therefore, Kraken wishes to leverage this current atmosphere of the UK to boost its operations, especially as an already authorized exchange. Kraken is authorized and registered with the FCA in the UK through its subsidiary Crypto Facilities and Payward. 

Kraken has experienced a series of adjustments in terms of its leadership this season. One of its major shifts was the resignation of Jesse Powell as CEO. He was immediately replaced by Dave Ripley who recently declared his growth intentions for the exchange.