Mantle Expands Leadership Team With Key Hires from TradFi, Web3

Mantle, a leading platform for on-chain finance with over $4.3 billion in treasury assets, has announced several high-profile leadership appointments.

The new hires come from major financial institutions, Web3 organizations, and venture capital firms, strengthening Mantle’s position in bridging traditional finance with blockchain innovation.

"These appointments reflect Mantle's evolution into a comprehensive platform for institutional-grade on-chain finance," Jordi Alexander, chief alchemist at Mantle, said in a statement on Wedneday.

"Our veteran leadership team brings unparalleled expertise in digital assets, enterprise adoption, and structured products. Their collective experience will be instrumental in realizing our vision of seamless institutional capital flows across traditional and decentralized markets."

Among the key appointments:

• Thomas Chen, former managing director at BitGo, has been named CEO of Function, previously known as Ignition FBTC. He will lead the development of 𝑓BTC (FBTC), Mantle’s Bitcoin yield product, which currently holds over $1.3 billion in total value locked (TVL). Chen’s experience scaling BitGo to over $100 billion in assets under custody highlights Mantle’s focus on institutional-grade infrastructure.
• Brian Trunzo, formerly VP and global head of business development at Polygon Labs, joins as Chief Growth Officer of Mantle Network. Trunzo played a key role in Polygon’s institutional and enterprise adoption, making him a strategic hire to drive Mantle Network’s expansion.
• Sohan Sen, previously with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Paradigm, takes on the role of group head of structured products and co-lead of the Mantle Enhanced Index Fund. His expertise in financial structuring will support Mantle’s efforts to create institutional products for crypto markets.
• Tim Chen, a partner at MSA Novo, will serve as group head of strategy and co-lead of the Mantle Enhanced Index Fund. His background includes global venture investments, Bitcoin mining, and ETF products focused on China and the U.S.
• Yaxi Zhu, co-founder of Bybit and a founding partner at Mirana Ventures, will oversee Mantle Banking, an initiative aimed at integrating blockchain into mainstream financial services.

The firm is building a suite of products, including liquid staking via mETH, 𝑓BTC for Bitcoin-based financial instruments, and the Mantle Enhanced Index Fund, designed to connect crypto with traditional markets.

Mantle is also launching MantleX, an AI-driven initiative to integrate artificial intelligence into on-chain finance. Led by chief alchemist Jordi Alexander, MantleX will focus on AI-driven treasury management, community engagement, and research.

With these leadership additions, Mantle said it aims to strengthen its position as a leading liquidity platform for digital assets, expanding its institutional-grade infrastructure while maintaining its focus on sustainable yield products.