On January 7, Bitcoin Suisse, a crypto-finance company in Switzerland, announced the appointment of Dirk Klee, the current CEO of wealth management and investments at Barclay UK, as its new CEO. Klee will succeed Dr Arthur Vayloyan who plans to step down from his current role as the Chief Executive Officer of Bitcoin Suisse on March 31 2022. Vayloyan will remain a member of the Board of Directors at Bitcoin Suisse.
Bitcoin Suisse is going through a change of leadership after the Founder, Niklas Nikolajsen stepped down as Chairman of the Board on January 1. Nikolajsen founded the firm in 2013. He handed over the role to Luzius Meisser who is expected to guide the strategic direction of the company. Nikolajsen will now dedicate more attention to his private affairs, including his family. Meisser has been serving as a member of Bitcoin Suisse’s Board of Directors since 2017.
Klee stated: “In the coming years, the growth of crypto-financial services will continue to accelerate in Europe and globally,”. He added that he expects major shifts in regulation , client expectations and technology.
In the past, Klee held senior positions at Allianz Global Investors/PIMCO, BlackRock investment management company and UBS Group AG.
Bitcoin Suisse Focuses on Its Growth and Product Offerings
The development by Bitcoin Suisse comes at a time when the crypto firm is focusing on expanding its offering to new products and services and to develop its international growth. In July 2020, the company raised a total of 45 million Swiss francs as part of a Series A financing round. The company planned to use the funding to scale its platform to launch a new portfolio of crypto, financial and digital assets services, and to drive forward its international growth plans.
In August last year, the crypto firm partnered with worldline, one of Europe’s leading payment providers, to enable merchants in Switzerland to accept crypto as means of payment for goods and services. Bitcoin Suisse has crypto assets of more than 6 billion Swiss francs ($6.5 billion) under management. The company, which generated revenues of 70 million francs in the first half of 2021, expects its net income to double for that year.
