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Swiss cryptocurrency custody firm Metaco’s CEO Adrien Treccani and chief product officer Peter DeMeo have left the company, according to a CoinDesk report.
In the meantime, no acting CEO has been named. During press time a Metaco spokesperson was unavailable to comment further on the report.
Ripple Acquired Metaco for $250M
Ripple acquired the Switzerland-based blockchain firm Metaco for $250 million back in May 2023 marking its first entry into the asset tokenization field. Metaco’s top competitors include Tangem, Taurus, and GK8.
The acquisition was announced by Ripple at the time which made its plans clear with the firm stating it expects the deal to help it expand its enterprise offerings, particularly in international markets.
Back then Ripple said that it expected Metaco to dramatically accelerate its growth by gaining access to Ripple’s customer base, capital and resources that will enable it to “continue delivering on its commitment to banking and institutional clients.”
A Ripple spokesperson confirmed the departures to CoinDesk.
”We appreciate the strong and industry-leading custody business that Adrien and his team built, as well as his leadership in integrating the custody team and solution with Ripple following the acquisition last year. Custody remains integral to Ripple’s growing business as we continue to provide best-in-class enterprise crypto solutions for our customers around the world,” a Ripple spokesperson told the publication.
Zodia Custody Integrates Metaco
In December, Standard Chartered Bank-backed digital assets custodian Zodia Custody, has integrated Metaco network’s global crypto storage services. The strategic partnership is aimed at offering global sub-custody services for cryptocurrencies. This means that Metaco would store client’s funds and provide means to manage them including initiating transfers via web interface.
In November reports emerged Metaco was working with HSBC, as reported by Ian Allison from CoinDesk.
Ripple’s Ongoing Legal Battle
Ripple continues to fight the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in courts over the sale of the XRP token, alongside much of the crypto industry in the US.
Most recently Ripple filed a motion requesting an extension of one week to gather and submit documents in its ongoing courtroom battle against the SEC. The documents under examination largely comprise financial statements covering the period from 2022-2023. In addition, the SEC seeks “post-complaint contracts governing ‘institutional sales.’”
The SEC lawsuit has been ongoing as far back as December 2020. The federal agency’s suit accuses Ripple of illegally raising $1.3 billion through sales of its blockchain’s native XRP token, which it alleges is as an unregistered security.