Google hires former BlockFi executive

Google hired Rishi Ramchandani, a former executive at BlockFi — failed digital currency lender. He will head web3 delivery in the company.

Former vice president of bankrupt digital currency lender BlockFi Rishi Ramchandani has taken a significant role in Google Cloud as APAC web3 lead.

Ramchandani said in his LinkedIn post:

“Excited for the next step in my career! I look forward to growing Google Cloud’s #Web3 efforts in APAC and working with the great people there.”

Rishi Ramchandani, APAC web3 lead at Google

The announcement comes just a few months after Google Cloud assembled its web3 team to capitalize on the rapidly expanding crypto market. The Silicon Valley giant seeks to empower the web3 environment, which consists of businesses seeking to create new internet applications utilizing blockchain technology. The company has already onboarded Coinbase, Dapper Labs Inc, Nansen, Sky Mavis Inc, and Hedera as its clients.

Meanwhile, in November, BlockFi declared bankruptcy following Sam Bankman-empire Fried’s rapid demise. It sold about $239 million in cryptocurrency and alerted nearly 250 employees that they would be laid off during the incident.