DAR Sees Growth Opportunity Despite Digital Asset Market Downturn
New York, NY, March 7, 2023 – Digital Asset Research (DAR), a leading provider of ‘clean’ crypto data and insights, today announced an expansion of its executive team amidst increased demand for institutional-quality digital asset market data. Co-founder Erin Friez has returned to DAR as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Brian Stern joins as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Their hiring follows Kerstin Krall Walz joining the firm in 2022 as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and comes as DAR continues to add headcount while advancing a risk management focus as it helps clients confidently navigate the crypto space.
Despite a market downturn, crypto assets and the benefits of their underlying technology remain attractive to many of the institutional clients DAR serves. DAR continues to build for the next evolution of crypto by offering tools and data to assess risks and avoid the pitfalls of weak counterparties and subpar assets.
“From the crypto winter to FTX, this downturn has institutional clients asking for research that can help them conduct due diligence in the digital asset space and for the highest quality data to run their operations.” said Doug Schwenk, DAR’s CEO. “We see this as the perfect time to build transparent solutions that institutions can trust to grow their digital asset businesses. To better meet that client demand, we’ve been hiring for key positions and we’re excited to welcome Erin, Brian, and Kerstin to the executive team.”
From 2021 to 2022, DAR doubled its headcount and is continuing to add new positions this year. Erin Friez steps back into the role of COO at DAR with more than 15 years leading legal, regulatory, and product initiatives in the tech and fintech space. She has extensive experience in corporate and M&A law, advising companies from founding through successful exits. Erin previously served as Director of Crypto at PNC Asset Management and General Counsel/Head of Digital Assets at YieldX (sold to FNZ).
As CRO, Brian Stern brings twenty years of sales leadership to DAR with a track record of building, managing and motivating teams in early and high-growth stage companies while driving significant revenues. Previously, Brian held senior sales positions at AI and cybersecurity companies Cortical, RiskSense, and Electric Cloud. Brian holds BS and MS Engineering degrees.
CMO Kerstin Krall Walz is a sales-driven marketer laser-focused on growing DAR’s business by increasing awareness, trust, loyalty, and retention. Using her decades of marketing expertise at Walz Marketing, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Y&R, she helped clients identify differentiated positionings, bring brand identities to life, and develop breakthrough marketing plans.
Currently, DAR is hiring for a variety of positions. Specifically, the company is looking for Crypto and Market Data Technologists, Developers, Quants & Data Scientists, Research Analysts, Legal & Regulatory Experts, and Marketing and Sales personnel.