Crypto Facilities Appoints Gary Worrall as CEO

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Crypto Facilities Ltd., a subsidiary of Kraken, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Europe by euro trading volumes, today announced the appointment of Gary Worrall as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to its board of directors following approval by the UK financial services regulator FCA. He will succeed Timo Schlaefer, who will continue to serve as board advisor to the company.

Curtis Ting, Managing Director Europe at Kraken said: “With Gary we have the ideal candidate to further scale the business to meet the rapidly growing demand for regulated crypto trading instruments from institutional investors. With Crypto Facilities firmly established within Kraken, and the company entering its next growth phase, this was a natural moment for a leadership transition. Ever since founding the company in 2015, Timo has been a true pioneer in the crypto derivatives industry and the driving force behind turning Crypto Facilities into a world leading cryptocurrency derivatives platform.”

Gary Worrall is an experienced business manager in high-tech, high-growth industries. He joined Crypto Facilities in 2018 as Head of Operations. Before joining Crypto Facilities, Gary led exchange operations at Smarkets, a fast-growing start-up gaming exchange, where he helped scale the company’s operations during a period of rapid expansion.

Gary Worrall, CEO at Crypto Facilities said: “I’m incredibly excited to take on this new role at this pivotal moment in the company’s history. After obtaining a Multilateral Trading Facility license from the FCA and becoming Europe’s first regulated crypto futures venue, we’re ideally positioned to take advantage of growing institutional interest. This will allow us to further expand our product offering in a way that meets the high compliance standards our clients expect.”

Crypto Facilities Ltd, acquired by Kraken in early 2019, is a world-leading cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform, offering individuals and institutions regulated, transparent and secure trading 24/7/365. It currently offers futures contracts in BTC, ETH, BCH and LTC with up to 50x leverage.

Timo Schlaefer said: “As the founder, the future of the company is obviously near to my heart. After building Crypto Facilities from the ground up and running it for almost 6 years, it’s the right time to take a step back from day-to-day operations. I will stay close to the business and I look forward to supporting Gary and the team in my role as an advisor.”

To find out more, please visit www.cryptofacilities.com.

About Crypto Facilities

Crypto Facilities is a professional trading platform for derivatives on digital assets. Based in London, it allows investors to trade digital assets long and short with up to 50x leverage to benefit from price swings or to hedge your price risk. Crypto Facilities is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 757895).

About Kraken

Based in San Francisco, Kraken is the world’s largest global digital asset exchange based on euro volume and liquidity. Kraken’s clients trade more than 50 digital assets and 7 different fiat currencies, including EUR, USD, CAD, GBP, JPY, CHF and AUD. Kraken was founded in 2011 and is the first digital asset exchange to have its market data displayed on the Bloomberg Terminal and one of the first to offer spot trading with margin, regulated derivatives and index services. Kraken is trusted by more than 5 million traders, institutions and authorities around the world.

Kraken is backed by investors including Hummingbird Ventures, Blockchain Capital and Digital Currency Group, among others. For more information about Kraken, please visit www.kraken.com.