Two months after taking a temporary personal leave, Chainalysis co-founder Michael Gronagar has agreed to permanently leave the company.
Chainalysis, the buzzy 10-year-old New York-based blockchain data platform, will now be led by co-founder Jonathan Levine, he told TechCrunch, and the company's board announced Tuesday that he will He explained that he had given Mr. Gronager the job. But Levin, who has been the company's chief strategy officer for many years, will maintain other roles in addition to running the company as CEO.
“I have been responsible for R&D and believe that the CEO should be the Chief Product Officer. That is why we are not making any changes to the R&D leadership team. They will continue to report directly to me. Deaf,” he said in an interview Wednesday.
Mr. Levin declined to provide further information about Mr. Gronager, other than to say that Mr. Gronager also no longer serves on Chainalysis's board of directors, but maintains a stake in the company.
A message from TechCrunch to Gronager on Wednesday was not returned.
Asked about Chainalysis' financial health, Levin said the startup “continues to invest in our growth” and “doesn't need to raise capital.” Raised $175 million in 2022; [still] I feel that the company's cash flow is strong. He added that he will focus on “executing the expansion of our risk platform and working with government customers around the world to ensure we can meet the growing demand for cryptocurrencies.”
Chaineries, whose early investors include Benchmark, was valued by investors at $8.6 billion during a funding round in 2022. Cryptocurrency investor Katie Horn, who first discovered Chainalysis as a federal prosecutor, reportedly began buying secondary shares in the company valued at $2.5 billion in April of this year.
According to The Block, Chainalysis, considered a “cryptocurrency detective” whose clients include the U.S. government and corporate clients, will lay off just over 15% of its 900 employees in late 2023 and seek more government contracts. The plan is to focus on this.
The entire cryptocurrency industry has been in recovery mode in recent weeks, with Bitcoin prices hitting an all-time high of $100,000 on Wednesday.
Above: Levin at the StrictlyVC event hosted by TechCrunch in November 2024.