Citi’s Two Digital Assets Leads Exiting to Launch Startup

Co-heads of Citigroup’s digital assets group are leaving the bank less than a year after being put in charge of the new crypto-centered unit, which was launched in June 2021 inside Citi’s wealth management unit.

Greg Girasole and Alex Kriete announced separately on LinkedIn that they were leaving Citigroup to start a new venture and would reveal more details soon, after their garden leave ends. Garden leave refers to when a departing employee is kept on payroll but is barred from working for a set time.

“After 7 years, I am leaving Citi in order to start my own venture in the digital asset space,” Grisole said in a LinkedIn post on Thursday (March 10). “It was at Citi where my passion for digital assets began, culminating in the opportunity to lead the effort to bring this new asset class to their Global Wealth franchise. I am proud of the foundation we set, and will cheer their future success.”

Before being named co-head of the digital assets group, Grisole was a senior vice president and president portfolio manager for Citi in Manhattan and Stanford, Connecticut, and held investment positions. Prior to Citi, he was an analyst at JPMorgan. 

Kriete also shared his departure in a LinkedIn post.

“After 11 years at Citi, I have decided to take on a new challenge and will be leaving the firm. Over five years ago my personal interest and subsequent writing about blockchain-enabled digital assets (yes, “crypto”) led to an amazing network of colleagues across Citi businesses, external companies, and interested clients, and at this time I will be taking on a new challenge professionally by creating a new company in this space,” Kriete said. 

“Unsurprisingly to those who know me, I believe digital assets will continue to grow in importance to global capital markets and the formation of new business models, and I could not be more excited to assist in the maturation of this market,” Kriete said.

Kriete held senior vice president and vice president roles in investments at Citi Private Bank, before being named co-head of digital assets. He was also an analyst at Citi Private Bank. 

Read more: Customer Demand Prompts Citigroup To Consider Cryptocurrency Services