NYDIG, a leading bitcoin company, today announced the promotion of executives Tejas Shah and Nate Conrad to the roles of CEO and President, respectively.
NYDIG’s bitcoin balances hit all-time highs in Q3, up almost 100% year-over-year, and revenue is up 130% through Q2, with another increase when the firm closes its books on Q3. Building on this momentum, Shah and Conrad will focus on accelerating NYDIG’s investment in its industry-leading Mining Solutions franchise serving the largest North American miners and in its platform technology business, helping banks and non-bank enterprises utilize the Lightning Network for next-generation wallets and global payments.
Outgoing CEO Robert Gutmann and outgoing President Yan Zhao will remain at Stone Ridge Holdings Group, parent company of NYDIG, which they co-founded with Ross Stevens in 2012, working closely with Stevens across the full portfolio of Stone Ridge businesses. Mr. Gutmann will continue to serve on the NYDIG board.
“When markets crumble, character emerges. A flight to quality from the most risk-aware institutional investors has relentlessly driven bitcoin, and revenue, to NYDIG the last 12 months,” said Ross Stevens, Founder and Executive Chairman of NYDIG. “Even during the height of the crypto frenzy in H2 2021, our risk management discipline kept us entirely away from DeFi, centralized lending platforms, and the uncollateralized lending market. The firm’s balance sheet is the strongest it’s ever been, and we’re now investing aggressively into a capital-starved market. Robby and Yan are delivering the business to Tejas and Nate in phenomenal shape.
Further, financial gravity is operating. In Q3, the reality of fiat debasement overcame risk-off driven liquidity shocks, driving the dollar, yen, euro, and pound all down against bitcoin. Against this backdrop, Lighting network growth is exponential, with access to about 100,000 people in August 2021 growing to more than 150 million today. NYDIG is privileged to play our part facilitating global access to non-state money, especially at this critical time.”
“Since its founding in 2017, NYDIG has become a leading global Bitcoin company. I’m proud of everything we’ve accomplished so far, and I cannot wait to see what the incredible NYDIG team will achieve in the coming years and decades,” said Gutmann. “As leaders of our biggest businesses, Tejas and Nate have been driving forces in NYDIG’s success. They are ready to lead NYDIG in its next phase of growth.”
Shah and Conrad were most recently NYDIG’s Global Head of Institutional Finance and Global Head of Payments, respectively. Prior to joining NYDIG in 2020, Shah had a nearly 20-year career at Goldman Sachs where he was a partner. Conrad joined Stone Ridge in 2016 and NYDIG in 2020, after also beginning his career at Goldman Sachs.
“I’m honored to lead this incredible organization on our important mission of Bitcoin for All,” added NYDIG’s new CEO, Tejas Shah. “The whole NYDIG team remains laser-focused on delivering the world-class financial and technological solutions our clients know and expect from the firm. Our strong balance sheet, especially in today’s market, is a powerful differentiator in serving our clients.
NYDIG’s best-in-class cold storage custody solution remains the foundation for everything we do, from our innovative capital and credit intermediation solutions to our dominant position servicing the miners securing the Bitcoin network. Now it’s time for Lightning. We are excited to deliver next-generation wallet and payment solutions – faster, cheaper, safer – to our expanding set of enterprise technology clients.”