Cryptocurrency firm Cronos Labs has hired a new CEO to help the firm lead its growth efforts, as per an official press release.
Ryan Wyatt will be taking over as head of the company, bringing extensive advisory and C-level executive experience.
Cronos Labs is a web3 startup accelerator. It operates a layer-1 blockchain too.
He’s worked previously across the following companies: President and Advisor to Polygon Labs, Senior Director of Gaming for YouTube Gaming, Vice President of Programming, Head of Live & E-sports for Machinma, Head of Online Tournaments of Major League Gaming. Combined, he has 17 years of experience across cryptocurrency and gaming, as per his LinkedIn profile.
“Cronos has a foundation with real potential, but a generic L1 strategy doesn’t play to its strengths,” said Wyatt in an official statement.
“We’re rebooting the project around one clear goal: building revenue-generating products and simple onramps into DeFi for Crypto.com’s users and beyond,”
According to a LinkedIn post by Wyatt, Cronos will be seriously pursuing its integration into Crypto.com, one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the market.
“Part of my job will be to continue to integrate Cronos into Crypto.com’s platform, one of the world’s largest platforms where millions of people buy and trade crypto, and now also stocks and prediction markets,” said Wyatt on LinkedIn.
Alongside the hire of Wyatt as CEO, Cronos Labs will also be onboarding a new chief product officer and a head of business development and partnerships.
“Cronos is coming into this transition from a position of weakness, not momentum. TVL has steadily declined, from over $2 billion three years ago to around $780–800 million in September, and is now closer to $380 million. Which reflects broader fatigue with undifferentiated L1s. In that context, bringing in Ryan Wyatt feels less like a growth hire and more like a strategic reset,” said Lavneet Bansal, a consultant working in Web3 and stablecoins.
“The positive is that Cronos is openly acknowledging the limits of the generic L1 model and leaning into its distribution advantage through Crypto.com. The risk is that this pivot is happening late, when the market has already made up its mind about most standalone chains,” he also said.