Executive Officers

Michael (Xu) Zhao, 38
Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Mr. Zhao’s involvement with the crypto market began in 2016 when he first invested in Bitcoin, Ethereum, as well as other popular altcoin projects like Tron. Since 2017, Mr. Zhao has served as Executive Chairman of the International Digital Currency Markets (IDCM) exchange and as the CEO of the VGPay crypto payment business. IDCM provides services to retail clients (B2C) as a digital exchange operator, and it also provides technology and infrastructure to its cryptocurrency exchange partners (B2B). VGPay provides payment services to cryptocurrency exchanges and their clients (B2B, B2C). Since 2018, Mr. Zhao has served as co-chairman of the Hong Kong Blockchain Association. Mr. Zhao has provided practical solutions for multiple national blockchain projects and the comprehensive progress of digital economies of foreign sovereign countries, including digital transformation solution for Sinar Mars Group and Indonesia in 2020. Mr. Zhao’s prior experience includes significant roles in international financial trading at Intesa San Paulo from 2014 to 2016, China Merchants Bank from 2011 to 2014, the State Foreign Exchange Administration of the People’s Republic of China from 2010 to 2011 and UBS from 2006 to 2009. He has a Master’s degree in Electronic Engineering and Finance from the University of Florida.

David Hytha, 67
Chief Financial Officer and Secretary

Mr. Hytha has advised major firms and new ventures in the U.S., Asia and Europe as Founder and Managing Partner for New Wave Partners Inc. since 2008. Mr. Hytha published on blockchain and artificial intelligence applications in 2019. Mr. Hytha served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer for Nano Global from September 2016 to September 2017. Mr. Hytha also served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer for Quixey in mobile search from January 2012 to August 2016. He served in multiple roles at venture capital firms Sofinnova Partners and Sofinnova Ventures and their portfolio companies from 2006 to 2011. From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Hytha was Executive Vice President for Terminals at T-Mobile based in London, England and Bonn, Germany. From 1982 to 2003, he led businesses for new ventures and for large firms including AT&T, McCaw Cellular and Motorola in the U.S. and in Asia. Mr. Hytha graduated with an MBA in Finance and in Operations Management from Columbia University and a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross. He has also served as an advisor on entrepreneurship to Stanford Research Institute (SRI) International, Columbia University and Cambridge University.

Board of Directors

Dr. Najamul Kidwai, 52
Founder, Chairman and Director

From 2021 to present, Dr. Kidwai has served as Chairman and Director of Crypto 1 Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company focused on digital assets/crypto/blockchain. Since 2016 to present, Dr. Kidwai has served as a Venture Partner and Investment Committee Member of Frontier Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on early-stage technology and blockchain. Since 2017, Dr. Kidwai also has been a Co-Founder and Board member of EQUIAM, a leading, private-markets-focused venture capital fund. Through EQUIAM, Dr. Kidwai has invested in several technology companies including Coinbase and Robinhood. Dr. Kidwai has also been investing in digital assets/crypto/blockchain since 2016, including companies such as Fusion.Org.  From 2009 to present, Dr. Kidwai has served as an independent advisor, board member, and/or investor in a number of technology companies that include ForgeGlobal and Boxed (Giddy Inc.), both of which recently announced mergers with special purpose acquisition companies. Dr. Kidwai has served similar roles with Neurable, Cleartrip (acquired by FlipKart), InMobi, Servify, ToTheNew Ventures and Asia Innovations. From 2006 to 2009, Dr. Kidwai served as the Founder and CEO of Real Time Content, a proprietary Adaptive Media Platform which exited to NASDAQ-listed Pitney Bowes. Prior to 2006, Dr. Kidwai held investment roles at Edge Venture Capital, and AtomicTangerine (a Stanford Research Institute (SRI) International Company). Dr. Kidwai holds a B.S.c Hons. in Technology Management from Staffordshire University and an honorary Doctorate from Lincoln University.

David Maloy, 68
Independent Director

Since 2019, Mr. Maloy has served as a Managing Director of Clear Markets Holdings, Inc., a provider of execution and margin services to firms engaging in OTC trading on crypto derivatives. Previously, Mr. Maloy provided consulting services and was affiliated with Rutter Associates, a risk management consultancy, from 2016 to 2019. Prior to Rutter Associates, Mr. Maloy served as CEO and COO of NetOTC, Americas and NetOTC, Ltd, London, respectively, from 2013 to 2016. From 2008 to 2013, during the midst of the financial crisis, Mr. Maloy headed Credit Suisse’s Global Collateral Functions and Client Valuations functions. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Maloy served in multiple roles at UBS Securities, LLC and UBS AG (previously Swiss Bank Corporation). From 1989 to 1994, Mr. Maloy acted as Chief Executive Officer and President of Delta Government Options, a proprietary SEC 17a Clearing Agency, upon the activation of Delta’s Clearing Agency Order. Mr. Maloy has also worked at Citibank Investment Bank, chiefly in business development, from 1986 through 1989.

Jeffrey Singer, 57
Independent Director

Mr. Singer served as Group CEO at YBA Kanoo, one of the largest family companies in the Middle East, from 2019 to 2020. Mr. Singer served as Executive-in-Residence at the American University of Sharjah from 2015 to 2019, and served in multiple advisory roles from 2012 to 2019. Mr. Singer served as CEO at Nasdaq Dubai during which time he oversaw the merger between Nasdaq Dubai and Dubai Financial Market. He held multiple roles at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in New York, including as President of the International Division from 2003 to 2012. Mr. Singer has worked at SAP and with technology startup companies. He earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a B.S. in International Finance from Brigham Young University, where he served as student-body president.

Alvin Eng, 67
Independent Director

Mr. Eng is the founder and a partner at Harborview Advisory Partners, LLC, where he has acted as an advisor to many of the company’s major financial clients since 2013. From 1983 to 2013, Mr. Eng served in several roles at Citigroup, including as Chief Investment Officer in Citi Wealth Management Services, Global Markets & Banking, Citigroup. Mr. Eng also served as a member of the Citigroup Corporate Task Forces on Restructuring/Treasury/Risk Management, Global Payments Strategy and the Revenue Task Force. Previously, Mr. Eng was the Chair of the Citigroup Global Asset Management-Institutional & Private Bank Investment Products Committee and served on the Board of Directors on numerous investment companies. He was also a member of the Salomon, Smith Barney and Citigroup merger team, and the New Ventures, Analytics, Online banking, Citi Cards, and Affluent strategy teams. Prior to his work at Citibank, Mr. Eng was a member of the Hewlett-Packard Advanced Engineering and the Xerox Research Lab. Mr. Eng has an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Columbia Business School and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Columbia Engineering. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Matthew Krna, 43
Independent Director

Mr. Krna is a growth-stage technology investor with over 20 years of experience. Since February 2021, Mr. Krna has served as CEO and Director of Alpha Partners Technology Merger Corp., a special purpose acquisition company. He has served as Venture Partner at Alpha Partners since 2020 and he is the Founder and Managing Partner of Ladera Venture Partners. From 2015 to 2020, Mr. Krna was the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Princeville Global, a San Francisco and Hong Kong-based growth-stage fund focused on investing in breakout-stage technology companies around the world. From 2011 to 2015, Mr. Krna was a Partner at Princeville Global’s predecessor fund, SoftBank Princeville, a $250 million growth-stage technology investment fund affiliated with SoftBank Group. From 2005 to 2011 Mr. Krna was vice president at Investor Growth Capital. Prior to these roles he served at Canaan Partners, and served as an investment banker at Credit Suisse and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Mr. Krna has also served on numerous boards of directors as a director or observer, including Criteo (Nasdaq: CRTO), Dotomi (acquired by Conversant), Doctor on Demand (merged with Grand Rounds), ID Analytics (acquired by LifeLock), and Remitly. Mr. Krna holds an AB degree from Harvard University.

Faisal Galaria, 48
Independent Director

Since 2019, Mr. Galaria has served as the CEO of Blippar, one of the UK’s first tech unicorns. From 2016 to 2019, Mr. Galaria served as the Chief Strategy and Investments Officer of Gocompare (LSE: GOCO), where he led the demerger of the business from Esure (LSE: ESUR). Previously, from 2012 to 2016, he served as a Senior Partner of Alvarez & Marsal, a turnaround and restructuring company. Mr. Galaria served as Senior Vice President at Spotify from 2009 to 2012, launching Spotify in several countries (NYSE: SPOT), as International Managing Director at Kayak (NYSE: KYAK) from 2008 to 2009, and as an early member of the Skype team (NYSE: EBAY) from 2004 to 2007.? Mr. Galaria is a Non-Executive Director of global fashion retailer Superdry (LSE: SDRY), and sits on the Advisory Board of Imperial College Business School. He is a graduate of UMIST (the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology), earned an MBA from Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (Barcelona), and has studied international economics at ETEA, University of Córdoba, in Spain.