FNG Exclusive… Further to our report from March that high flying crypto exchange FTX had set up shop in Cyprus and was going to use the EU island nation as its gateway to offer services to clients in Europe, FNG has learned that the company had indeed made a number of key hires and filled important positions.

Many of the new hires at FTX have been executives from the FX and CFD brokerage world. Cyprus, and in particular Limassol, has become one of the main centers globally for managing online brokerages.

FTX, which is headquartered in the Bahamas, acquired a CySEC CIF-licensed entity called K-DNA Financial Services Ltd, and received permission to operate the ftx.com/eu website for European clients from that site.

We also understand that the company is continuing to look to add more talent in Cyprus, as well as elsewhere in Europe.

The hires which have been made over the past few months by FTX for its Cyprus office include:

Martha Lambrianou, CEO of FTX Europe. Was the CEO of K-DNA Financial Services Ltd since 2017, and had worked previously at a number of Cyprus based Retail FX brokers.

Marios Athinodorou, Executive Director of FTX Europe. Previously a senior market analyst at a number of FX/CFD brokers including Alvexo and TeleTrade.

Frini Fournari, Head of Compliance. Formerly Head of Compliance for XTB’s Cyprus based operation. Also worked at Conotoxia and IronFX.

Theodoros Pappas, Head of Back Office. Previously at SquaredFinancial, Traders Trust, FxPro, Forex Club, TFI Markets and FXGM.

Nayia Ziourti, General Counsel FTX Europe. Previously at PwC Cyprus and CySEC.

Marinos Ioannou, Senior AML Officer. Previously at Spot Capital Markets, and IronFX.