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Dive Brief: Cryptocurrency Venture Capital Firm Paradigm Experiences Executive Shake-Up

Apsel and Jashnani-Slusarz expected to depart

Nathan Apsel, the CFO of cryptocurrency venture capital firm Paradigm, is set to step down from his role later this month, according to internal emails seen by crypto news site The Block. Reena Jashnani-Slusarz, the company’s general counsel, is also expected to depart at the same time. The company’s chief legal officer, Katie Biber, will continue to lead the legal team while the search for a new CFO begins over the coming months.

Challenges in the cryptocurrency industry

Paradigm’s executive shake-up comes at a time when the cryptocurrency industry is facing hurdles in its recovery following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and other major players. This collapse has heightened regulatory scrutiny on the sector, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) paying closer attention.

Dive Insight: Paradigm Executives and their Backgrounds

Nathan Apsel has been Paradigm’s CFO since November 2021. Prior to joining the company, he served as the finance chief for VC firm 8VC based in Austin, Texas. He also held a senior management position at PricewaterhouseCoopers, a renowned Big Four accounting firm, for eight years.

Reena Jashnani-Slusarz joined Paradigm as its general counsel in 2021. Before joining the company, she held the position of managing director and deputy general counsel at Elementum Advisors, LLC.

Paradigm, founded in 2018, has amassed over $8.7 billion in managed assets, including investments in notable crypto players like Coinbase and FTX.

Nathan Apsel joined Paradigm at the same time the venture capital firm closed its “Paradigm One” fund, a $2.5 billion crypto investment fund, making it the largest of its kind at the time. The fund saw participation from FTX, which invested $20 million in Paradigm One, according to a report by Financial Times.

Increased regulatory scrutiny and Paradigm’s response

Executive departures at Paradigm align with a period of heightened regulatory scrutiny in the cryptocurrency industry. The collapse of FTX in November 2022 sent shockwaves through the industry, leading to a more rigorous approach by the SEC under the leadership of Chair Gary Gensler.

The SEC has initiated lawsuits against various industry players and exchanges following the FTX collapse, including Coinbase and Ripple. Paradigm has been critical of the SEC’s stricter stance and has submitted amicus briefs in support of crypto exchanges Bittrex and Coinbase as they face off against the regulator.

Paradigm, alongside venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, filed an amicus brief last month in the SEC’s ongoing lawsuit against Coinbase. The brief argues for the dismissal of the SEC’s complaint and highlights the potential harmful effects that an expansion of the SEC’s regulatory authority could have on the blockchain industry.

Through their amicus briefs, the VC firms emphasize that the SEC’s position represents an unwarranted and unsupported extension of the laws it administers. They argue that such an expansion threatens to disrupt not only digital asset markets but also a range of asset transactions that have historically not fallen under the SEC’s jurisdiction.

Paradigm also pointed to a discrepancy in the SEC’s approach in its amicus brief supporting Bittrex. They highlighted a previous acknowledgement by SEC Chair Gensler, in testimony to the House’s Committee on Financial Services in 2021, that the SEC lacked the authority to regulate secondary markets in crypto assets. Paradigm suggests that the SEC’s regulatory ambition has expanded unwarrantedly since that time.

Paradigm has not yet provided a comment regarding their executives’ potential departures.

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