Nejc Kodrič

Nejc Kodričč grew up in Slovenia and developed an early interest in computer science and the internet's potential to disrupt traditional finance. Alongside his friend and co-founder, he recognized that the European cryptocurrency market was severely underserved, with users relying almost entirely on the notoriously unreliable Mt. Gox. He understood that European investors needed a secure, legally compliant, and euro-denominated gateway to access Bitcoin.

Nejc Kodričč co-founded Bitstamp in 2011 with Damijan Merlak in a garage in Slovenia, with just 1,000 euros in capital. Kodrič served as the CEO and driving force behind the company's vision to provide a safe, reliable, and compliant alternative to the wild-west exchanges of the early crypto era. Understanding that regulatory legitimacy was the key to long-term survival, Kodrič focused steadily on compliance, eventually relocating the exchange's operations to the UK and later Luxembourg to secure the first fully licensed national cryptocurrency exchange status in the EU in 2016. Under his meticulous leadership, Bitstamp became synonymous with security and reliability, surviving high-profile hacks by prioritizing cold storage and customer reimbursement. Kodrič's insistence on treating cryptocurrency like traditional institutional finance paved the way for Bitstamp's acquisition by NXMH in 2018, marking one of the industry's first major corporate buyouts.