Behind Polkadot (DOT) is the crypto company Parity Technologies. A change in leadership is taking place there. Co-founder Gavin Wood is stepping down as CEO and has chosen Björn Wagner as his successor.
In the crypto scene, Gavin Wood is a celebrity; the 42-year-old is counted among the co-founders at Ethereum (ETH) and later led Polkadot (DOT) to launch, also as a co-founder. In the case of Polkadot, Wood and co-founders launched the crypto company Parity Technologies back in 2015 to bundle development and marketing. At Parity Technologies, Wood took the CEO position from 2020, when all four other co-founders had left. Now, however, Wood has had enough of administrative work and representation, as the computer scientist with a PhD writes in an open letter. That’s why he is pleased that Björn Wagner has agreed to lead Parity Technologies as CEO with immediate effect. Even if Wood does not mention Polkadot explicitly – with Wagner at the head of Parity Technologies, new impulses for Polkadot can also be expected.
According to Wood, he also wants to carry the title “Chief Architect” at Parity / Polkadot from now on and take care of where the ecosystem finds its role in Web3. Wood emphasizes that he has never cared much about job titles and sees his strengths as “thinker, programmer, designer and architect.” Björn Wagner, on the other hand, joined Parity Technologies in 2016, where he previously served as COO in charge of marketing and customer relations for Polkadot. The German is also listed as a co-founder of Parity and was personally selected by Wood for the chief executive role. Wood writes that as Parity’s majority owner, he needs full confidence in the CEO because he sets the internal climate, for example. Wagner did not publicly comment on his appointment as CEO.
Polkadot with weak 2022 – can new CEO create momentum?
Polkadot has given investors little joy this year. In January, DOT initially traded above 20 US dollars, but then a negative trend set in, the reasons for which we outlined here. In the meantime, Polkadot’s price curve has fallen to below US$6. DOT is still within sight of the top ten most important cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of 6.6 billion US dollars, but Polkadot has not been able to find its own positive momentum in recent months. New CEO Wagner will therefore have to be judged on whether he breathes fresh optimism into Polkadot.
Conclusion: Gavin Wood moves to the second row at Polkadot
Wood should be financially set as a co-founder of Ethereum and Polkadot, and his confession of having little fun in the CEO post sounds sincere. However, Wood will remain with Parity and Polkadot as “chief architect,” while Björn Wagner will now be responsible for the day-to-day operations. The coming months will show whether this personnel change will also give Polkadot new momentum. Currently, the price curve of DOT did not react noticeably to the appointment of the new head of Parity.
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