Decentraland is set to host its second annual Metaverse Music Festival next month, highlighting real-world and digital music artists across genres. The free event will be presented by digital asset exchange Kraken and does not require a ticket or any special hardware, like a virtual reality headset, to participate.

Blair Halliday, previously UK managing director for the Winklevoss twins’ exchange Gemini, is taking over the same role at Kraken, according to a statement published Friday. Halliday will replace Curtis Ting, who has been appointed global senior managing director, covering multiple jurisdictions.

Jonathon Miller, managing director of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken in Australia, said “despite NFT market activity and sales volume having slowed down in September, we are still seeing positive adoption signals at an institutional level and continued growth in use cases.”

Ripley, who plans to step fully into the top job once Kraken finds a new COO, says he relishes the task of managing large teams and that he expects little will change when it comes to the company’s culture.“ Jesse and I are in lockstep on culture and values though it does go without saying that I’m not the same level of cultural figure in terms of social media,” said Ripley.

Jesse Powell, the outspoken and often controversial co-founder of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, said he’s stepping down as chief executive officer to spend more time on the company’s products and broader industry advocacy.

Australian cryptocurrency developers and platforms are anticipating a flood of fresh capital into the Ethereum network after this week’s historic software update, enticed by a smaller carbon footprint, faster transactions and new ways of making money.