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Blockchain LabTHE VENTURE STUDIO

OCC TRUST · PRIVATE

Anchorage Digital

Anchorage Digital is the first federally chartered US digital-asset bank. In the same season it took Tether's money, it reportedly cut 17% of staff.

You are deciding whether to lead security, or to own stablecoin product, at a trust company that mandates in-person onboarding and was reported to be laying people off the week of 2 October 2026.

The company you would actually join

Blockchain Lab analysis

Public reporting and the employer’s own releases. Not a relationship with Blockchain Lab. Not a credit opinion.

Founded
2017, in San Francisco. Nathan McCauley is the chief executive on the October 2026 reporting. Diogo Mónica is the co-founder paired with him in the company's public origin.
Base
Both seats say United States and full-time remote. Both mandate in-person onboarding, no exceptions. Offices named on the posting include New York, Porto, Singapore, and Sioux Falls.
Status
Private. OCC national trust charter since 2021, as The Information described it. Equity is not stock you can sell.
People
About 400 employees globally as of McCauley's February 2026 testimony, The Information reported. A 17% cut on that base is roughly 68 people if headcount had not already moved. The company did not comment, the same piece said.

Anchorage's unusual fact is the charter. In 2021 it became the first crypto firm with a national trust charter from the OCC. That is why the clients are banks and why the stablecoin seat reads like a payments-product role at a bank: idempotency, webhooks, Fedwire, reconciliation. The security-lead seat is a manager's job with a player-coach clause — 8 years technical, 3 years as a formal people manager, distributed team. Neither posting discloses pay. Both disclose a security policy: every new hire completes in-person onboarding, no exceptions.

The week this desk was checked, The Information reported that McCauley had told employees the firm was cutting 17% of staff. About 400 people had been the February testimony. The same article is the source for the $4.2 billion Tether mark. A company can take strategic capital and cut staff in the same year. The candidate question is whether your seat is the expansion or the backfill. The stablecoin product is the expansion story — USAT and a Western Union coin are named in that reporting. The security lead is the function that does not get to be a press release. Ask which team the cut landed on.

Founders

Nathan McCauley

Co-founder and CEO

The executive The Information says told staff about the cuts the week of 2 October 2026. He is also the person whose February testimony is the source of the 400-employee figure. If you interview, you are interviewing a company in the week after that conversation, whether or not the recruiter mentions it.

Diogo Mónica

Co-founder

The other founder of the 2017 San Francisco company. The charter and the bank posture are the culture, not a startup loft. A product manager who has not shipped inside a bank will feel it on the stablecoin seat, because the posting asks for ACH, RTP, and Fedwire as fluency.

What the company sells

Custody under a charter

The federal trust is the product. Clients are institutions. The security-lead seat is the practice that has to match that claim.

Stablecoins

The product seat owns the stablecoin platform: banks, PSPs, clearing, fiat conversion, settlement. The Information named USAT, with Tether, and Western Union's USDPT among issuance work.

What the posting already discloses

Series D valuation over $3 billion. Backers named there include a16z, GIC, Goldman Sachs, KKR, and Visa.

Capital

Series D mark

Over $3 billion

Employer-stated on the posting. Older than the Tether mark.

Tether round

$4.2 billion

The Information. $100 million strategic.

These seats' pay

Not disclosed

Neither posting states a band.

Headcount

About 400, then a cut

February testimony, then a reported 17% reduction the week of 2 October 2026.

  1. On the posting

    Series D

    Valuation over $3 billion

    The employer's line: funded by a16z, GIC, Goldman Sachs, KKR, and Visa, Series D valuation over $3 billion. This brief does not restate a round size the posting did not put next to that sentence.

  2. 2026, before October

    Tether strategic

    $100 million at $4.2 billion

    The Information, 2 October 2026: a $100 million strategic investment from Tether valuing the company at $4.2 billion, described as February's mark in the layoff piece. Cointelegraph's report of the same layoff repeats the investment. Not a retail round.

What should change your mind

  • A reported layoff in the week of the check. Confirm the req survived it.
  • Private equity at a $4.2 billion strategic mark. Illiquid, and preference stacks matter.
  • In-person onboarding is not optional, even on a remote US contract.
  • Bank-grade product work. A DeFi CV without rails experience will bounce off the stablecoin posting's own requirements.

Ask them

  • Did the 17% cut touch this team, and is the req still funded?
  • What is the strike relative to the $4.2 billion mark, and what did Tether get besides equity?
  • Where is onboarding, and how long are you required to be there?
  • Which stablecoins are in production versus announced?

Sources

If a figure is not in those sources, it is not in this brief on purpose.

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