A16z Crypto has added two technology security experts to its operations team, Anthony Albanese, the COO of the cryptocurrency-focused unit of the venture giant, wrote in a blog post on the company’s website Monday.
- Nassim Eddequiouaq will serve as a16z Crypto’s chief information security officer (CISO), while Riyaz Faizullabhoy will be its chief technology officer (CTO). They will help ensure that projects in a16z Crypto’s portfolio meet rigorous security measures, and provide technical guidance.
- They are the latest additions for a16z Crypto, which has made a number of high-profile hirings over the past year as it expands its reach.
- In a16z Crypto’s June announcement of a $2.2 billion raise for its much-anticipated Crypto Fund III, it also said it had added five heavy-hitters to its team.
- They included: Bill Hinman, the former director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance, as an advisory partner; Tomicah Tillemann, a former senior adviser to then-Senator Joe Biden and two secretaries of state, as global head of policy; and former Coinbase VP of Communications Rachael Horwitz as the operating partner overseeing marketing and communications.
- Albanese joined a16z in October after serving as chief regulatory officer at the New York Stock Exchange.
- Eddequiouaq and Faizullabhoy join a16z Crypto from Facebook, where they created the crypto custody infrastructure for the Novi wallet (formerly called Calibra). They also worked together at the cryptocurrency custody firm Anchorage, where they received their introduction to cryptocurrency.
- In his blog post, Albanese said the firm had been seeking “a world-class security leader to consult with the projects in our portfolio and help our own operations scale in a crypto-native way, and were doubly fortunate to find a pair of them instead.” He called Eddequiouaq and Faizullabhoy “phenomenal engineering and security leaders with a proven track record in blockchain and infrastructure.”
