Business development exec involved with Gemini stablecoin exits

Sarah Olsen, a managing director at Gemini who played a role in the exchange’s stablecoin effort, has left the cryptocurrency exchange, according to sources familiar with the matter. 

Olsen had been with Gemini since 2017, first serving as the head of business development then the managing director of corporate development, per her LinkedIn profile. It is unclear at the moment what her next steps are. Gemini has not responded to The Block’s request for comments. 

While at Gemini, Olsen was involved in the exchange’s efforts to push its stablecoin Gemini dollar. In Oct. 2018, Olsen published a paper on stablecoins, in which she praised GUSD’s compliance status with the New York State Department of Financial Services as “paramount” in mitigating the counterparty risk. 

During her tenure, the firm made several attempts to boost GUSD’s market share, including partnering with crypto wallet SPEDN to allow users to spend GUSD at retail stores and listing the stablecoin on crypto lending platform BlockFi. 

Despite these efforts, the market share of GUSD continues to shrink. The company’s GUSD market share plunged by 95% since February to $4,683,637, according to CoinMarketCap.

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The Block

November 16, 2019