GFO-X head of sales Lenhart leaves two months after launch

Lenhart, who joined GFO-X in September 2021 as partner and head of sales and membership, left the new crypto market at the end of last month, according to his post on LinkedIn.

He wrote: “With GFO-X fully operational and open for business (as of May 9th), I felt this is the right time to step away and focus on other opportunities.”

London-based GFO-X started trading in early May a range of bitcoin futures and options, with chief executive Arnab Sen saying at the time it had streaming prices from launch courtesy of IMC, the market-maker.

Lenhart wrote in his post: “I remain an investor and shareholder in GFO-X and will continue to support Arnab Sen and Rajesh Melwani and the team as required.”

Melwani is the founding chief operating officer and chief financial officer (CFO) of GFO-X which announced in April 2023 its partnership with the French arm of LCH, marking the LSE Group-owned clearing house’s first move into crypto derivatives.

Melwani is also taking over Lenhart's responsibilities in the new role of GFO-X chief commercial officer, according to a spokesperson for the firm who said: "We are pleased to announce that Rajesh Melwani will be taking on the role of chief commercial officer (CCO) alongside his current role as CFO. Rajesh brings extensive experience from his previous roles as managing director running Institutional Derivatives Sales at UBS and Bank of America."

The spokesperson added: "Alex played a pivotal role in our journey to launch, and his dedication, hard work, and professionalism have been instrumental in our success. Although Alex will be stepping back from day-to-day operations, he remains an investor in the business and will continue to support us, making appearances at future GFO-X events.”

GFO-X secured in December 2023 $30m (£24m) in a funding round led by M&G Investments designed to support the institutional crypto platform through its launch which at that time was planned for early 2024.

The venue, regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, has since won the backing of banks ABN Amro Clearing, Nomura, Standard Chartered as well as IMC and Virtu, another market-maker.

Before GFO-X, Lenhart was for nearly five years Singapore Exchange’s chief representative for the US and UK until he left the Asian group in 2021.

Previously, he was for seven years the managing director and head of Prime Derivative Services at Credit Suisse in London and the manager director and head of Listed Derivative sales and execution at UBS in New York for five years.