Underdog hires ex-Crypto.com event contracts chief Lundgren as CEO
Underdog has hired Nick Lundgren, the former head of Crypto.com's event contracts exchange, as its new chief executive. Lundgren's appointment was announced May 6. He brings direct experience running a crypto-linked prediction exchange to the sports-centric platform, which competes in the event-contracts space for traders and regulatory positioning. The hire comes after Travis McGhee, head of prediction markets at Crypto.com, departed the company, leaving the crypto exchange's prediction markets operation without its lead executive. Underdog's move signals it is building out leadership with experience from an established crypto-native event contracts venue as it expands its prediction-market operations.
Crypto.com loses its second prediction-markets leader to a rival in under two weeks, leaving the exchange without named executives in both its event contracts and prediction markets divisions. Competitors are now poaching from Crypto.com's bench while the exchange struggles to signal strategic priority for the units.
Crypto.com now faces a leadership vacuum in prediction markets after losing both its event contracts head and its prediction markets chief to rival platforms, leaving the exchange without named executives in two key units as competitors lock partnerships and raise capital.