Kanav Kariya, Jump Crypto – Jump Trading’s digital asset arm – has stepped down, announcing his resignation. His resignation comes during a CFTC (Commodities and Futures Trading Commission) investigation of Jump, looking into its problematic connections with industry villains – Terraform Labs and FTX.
Kariya wrote on X, “Today marks the end of an incredible personal journey for me. It’s my last day at Jump, a moment I’m receiving with both a heavy heart and great excitement about the road ahead.”
Regarding his next steps, he stated, “I plan to stay engaged with the portfolio companies I’ve been most involved with and hopefully take some time to process the unbelievably eventful few years we’ve had.”
The eventful years he mentioned saw some of the worst events the crypto ecosystem has witnessed in a bit. And Jump was related to a few. For starters, Jump owned the company that developed Wormhole. The Wormhole attack saw hackers walking away with over $320 million of wrapped Ether (wETH). Jump rightfully deposited an equivalent amount of ETH to cover the losses.
Jump’s next worrisome association became evident after Terra collapsed. This relationship drew an investigation into the trading firm as a lawsuit alleged that Jump profited by over a billion dollars colluding with Do Kwon, Terra’s founder, to manipulate the price of TerraUSD (UST). Jump is also alleged to have received LUNA at 99% discounts from Terra for their involvement in keeping the Terra ecosystem going.
The final of such connections was with FTX. As investors worried about their assets and funds, which were in Jump’s control, the firm assured them of possessing sufficient liquidity. While companies associated with FTX struggled after its bankruptcy, Jump managed to move past it.
The CFTC investigation into Jump may go either way – many companies were exposed to such situations because of their alliances with the likes of Terra and FTX. However, not all of them were guilty of knowing how the two firms operated and ignoring their bad behavior to put investor funds at risk. Jump may fall into that category. In fact, the reason for CFTC looking into Jump remains sealed and unknown.
While Kariya’s resignation aligns with this investigation, he maintains he would like to “catch up on relationships and reading that I had set on the back burner.”
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay