Offchain Labs, the team behind Ethereum L2 network Arbitrum, has appointed Ira Auerbach as head of its partner studio and venture capital arm Tandem. Auerbach previously served as head of digital assets at Nasdaq and held leadership roles at cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, including global head of its primary business.
Ira Auerbach will lead Tandem’s support for select blockchain projects, with Tandem launched last August to support initiatives that solve the “toughest technical problems” that are holding back widespread cryptocurrency adoption. Tandem is currently working on two projects with its partner studio: Espresso Systems, which is developing decentralized sequencing infrastructure, and Ex Populus, which is developing the gaming-focused XAI blockchain.