Stablecoin issuer AUDC has appointed a head of product & operations and a chief technology officer as it looks to scale adoption of the stablecoin across institutional, payments and global markets.
The firm, which issues the AUDD Australian dollar-backed stablecoin, has appointed Jason Beale as head of product and operations and Hamish Crittenden as chief technology officer. It has also promoted Rachael Jones to the position of head of ecosystem and strategic initiatives.
AUDC CEO Effie Dimitropoulos said the appointments reflect a deliberate focus on scale and execution, acknowledging the growth in stablecoin demand across all aspects of the financial services industry in Australia.
“Over the past few years, we have focused on building and proving the foundations of AUDD in the market. These appointments are about taking that foundation to the next level and scaling what is already working to enable more institutions to use stablecoins to modernise and improve their services,” Dimitropoulos said.
The move comes after ASIC granted AUDC an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) for AUDD in February. At the time, the local firm said it aimed to “reclaim sovereignty” in the domestic stablecoin market which is dominated by offshore rivals.
Following ASIC’s updated guidance last year classifying stablecoins and other digital assets as financial products, affected firms have until 30 June 2026 to obtain an AFSL or risk breaching financial services laws. The corporate watchdog is urging firms to submit their applications as soon as possible.
Beale joins AUDC with more than 25 years of experience across capital markets, trading systems and financial infrastructure, including roles at UBS. According to the fintech company, his focus will be on expanding institutional use cases and deepening AUDD’s integration with global financial markets, payment and settlement networks.
Meanwhile, Crittenden brings more than two decades of experience in building and commercialising fintech and blockchain platforms. In his role, he will lead the next phase of AUDC’s technology “evolution”, scaling its live multi-chain stablecoin platform to support institutional-grade adoption and global use cases.
“With deep experience across global payments networks, institutional markets and digital asset infrastructure, our growing team positions us to accelerate the adoption of AUDD across financial institutions, cross border payments and emerging tokenised asset markets,” Dimitropoulos added.
In addition, AUDD announced that Jones’ promotion from operations lead to head of ecosystem & strategic initiatives would allow both her and the firm to expand and scale their tier one global partnership network, including firms such as Ripple, Coinbase and Circle.
AUDC has operated AUDD since November 2022 and has now processed more than $1.5 billion in transactions.
