J.P. Thieriot, newly named CEO
of Uphold.

Uphold, a global digital money platform that has powered more than $3.5 billion in transactions across 184 countries, has revealed that that JP Thieriot, the Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of the company, has been appointed CEO by the firm's Board of Directors.

Former CEO of Uphold, Adrian Steckel, has accepted the role of CEO of OneWeb, one of the world’s largest, satellite-based broadband initiatives. Mr. Steckel remains Chairman of Uphold. OneWeb will provide affordable internet access to people everywhere through a proprietary network of satellites and has secured $1.2 billion in funding led by Softbank. Other investors include Qualcomm, Airbus, Bharti, Intelsat, MDA, Virgin, and Coca-Cola.

The leadership succession comes after two years of rapid growth at Uphold. The blockchain-powered platform has become recognized for offering the widest range of cryptocurrencies and the best connectivity with legacy financial systems in its peer group. These attributes have made Uphold a popular choice for retail users worldwide seeking to move funds seamlessly between conventional currencies and cryptocurrencies.

In 2018, a record year commercially for the company, Uphold has posted a string of major achievements as the first major platform to offer XRP and one of the first cryptocurrency companies to reach an agreement to acquire a U.S. broker-dealer and file an application for approval of the change of control and business expansion with FINRA.

Executive Comment

Mr. Thieriot said that there are remarkable similarities between Uphold’s mission of opening up access to next-generation financial services to everyone with a networked device and OneWeb’s mission of bringing broadband connectivity to everyone, in every corner of the planet. The key to Uphold’s success is bringing transparency and trust to the cryptocurrency space and acting as a ‘bridge’ between decentralized blockchain networks and traditional financial systems. Thieriot added that Adrian has done a remarkable job since joining Uphold two years ago and has overseen a period of transformational growth and the company is very proud of his achievements and the strategic vision he brought to the company.