21Shares managing director departs

Kssis departs after two years at the company

Laurent Kssis has departed after two years as managing director of 21Shares, ETF Stream can reveal. 

Kssis (pictured) joined as managing director in July 2019 and worked with co-founder and chief product officer Ophelia Snyder on a number of industry firsts, including the company’s launches of the world’s first centrally cleared bitcoin and ethereum cash, cardano ADA, stellar XLM and solana exchange-traded products (ETPs). 

Prior to 21Shares, he was CEO of XBT Provider, a CoinShares subsidiary, between 2017 and 2019. He was also director of capital markets at CoinShares for seven months during his tenure. 

He has held a number of roles within the European ETF industry including head of ETF trading at Société Générale and partner at Bluefin Trading. 

He retains his position as non-executive director of Swedish crypto index provider, Vinter, a role he entered in June 2019. 

Commenting on the departure, 21Shares said in a statement: “We confirm that Laurent Kssis is no longer with the company as of 15 September. 

“We thank Laurent for his contributions in the early phase of the company and wish him every success for the future.” 

Kssis’s exit adds to a busy year for the firm, including the appointment of Isabell Moessler as head of distribution for EMEA in July and Marco Infuso as managing director for business development in the DACH region in April. 

In May, Cathie Wood, founder, CEO and CIO of ARK Investment Management joined the 21Shares board after making a personal investment in the company.