CEO of Ripple-owned blockchain custody firm Metaco steps down

Metaco CEO Adrien Treccani has left the firm after more than eight years, during which time Ripple Labs acquired the company.
Metaco CEO Adrien Treccani has left the firm after more than eight years, during which time Ripple Labs acquired the company.

Adrien Treccani, the CEO of Ripple Labs-owned blockchain custody firm Metaco, has left the company after more than eight years.

According to a Feb. 12 Reuters report, Trecanni was no longer the CEO of Metaco, a company he founded in 2015 in Switzerland. Trecanni’s LinkedIn page at the time of publication showed he left the firm in 2023. Ripple acquired Metaco in May 2023 for $250 million, aiming to expand its services for custody, issuance and settlement of tokenized assets.

“We appreciate the strong and industry-leading custody business that Adrien and his team built, as well as his leadership in integrating the custody team and solution with Ripple following the acquisition last year,” a Ripple spokesperson told Cointelegraph. 

Related: BBVA migrates crypto custody service to Ripple-owned Metaco’s Harmonize

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020 for allegedly offering unregistered securities. Many in the crypto space have scrutinized the case for its potential impact on the country's regulation and policy of digital assets.

In July 2023, a federal judge granted summary judgment in favor of Ripple, ruling that the XRP token was only a security when sold to institutional investors. The case is expected to go to a jury trial sometime in 2024. According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, XRP traded at $0.53 at the time of publication.

Magazine: 10 best long reads about crypto in 2023