Bitcoin App Developer Trust Machines Hires Coinbase, BNY Mellon Veterans

Trust Machines, a developer building applications to grow the Bitcoin economy, has hired Manas Mohapatra and Asiff Hirji, formerly of BNY Mellon (BK) and Coinbase (COIN) respectively, in legal and advisory roles.

• Mohapatra joins as the company's general counsel, having served in a similar role at BNY Mellon, while former Coinbase Chief Operating Officer Hirji will operate as an adviser, Trust Machines announced on Wednesday.
• Trust Machines was co-founded by Stacks founder Muneeb Ali and Princeton University computer science professor J.P. Singh. It raised $150 million to expand Bitcoin as a Web3 platform in February with Breyer Capital, Digital Currency Group (the parent company of CoinDesk) and Union Square Ventures among the investors.
• The firm aims to build on the work of Stacks, a programming layer for Bitcoin, in making the network compatible for smart contracts.
• “Bringing smart contracts capability to Bitcoin is a unique untapped market," Hirji said. "Muneeb and his team are leading that work through both EVM compatible and other safe programming environments through the Stacks layer for Bitcoin. I look forward to working with Muneeb to help grow the Bitcoin economy.”
• Trust Machines has also hired to its engineering team Igor Sylvester, formerly of Facebook (FB) and Reddit.

Read more: What Are Web3 Cryptos?