DEEPMARKIT ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF JOHNNY CHEN AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
DeepMarkit Corp. has appointed Johnny Chen as chief executive officer, effective Feb. 9, 2026. Concurrently, Steve Vanry will transition into the role of chief financial officer while continuing to serve as the corporate secretary, and Curtis Smith will resign from the role of the CFO.
The leadership transition supports the company’s previously announced strategic direction to focus on prediction markets and the continued development of its Prospect Markets platform (see Nov. 26, 2025, press release).
Mr. Chen is the founder of Prospect Prediction Markets Inc. (Prospect Markets) and brings over a decade of experience in the capital markets and across institutional equity sales and trading. He has held senior roles at leading investment banks including BMO Capital Markets, Stifel Nicolaus Canada and Raymond James, advising institutional investors, supporting equity financings, and working closely with trading and execution teams. He is a chartered financial analyst (CFA) and professional engineer (PEng), with a background that combines capital markets expertise with engineering, technology and digital assets. He began his journey in crypto in 2016 as a student at Stanford University and later co-founded Prospect Labs Inc., a blockchain-based fantasy sports company that licensed fantasy sports software, related intellectual property, brand assets and business operations to Prospect Markets.
“Prospect Market’s mission is to enable sports leagues to engage with fans through prediction markets and to grow the athlete economy. I’m excited to lead DeepMarkit through this new chapter of growth,” said Mr. Chen, incoming CEO. “As the founder, I’ve been deeply involved in shaping the vision and strategy and I look forward to working with our team to execute and scale our prediction market platform. Prediction markets are reshaping financial and consumer markets, and we intend to be a leader in the space.”
As part of the leadership transition, Mr. Vanry, who has served as CEO, will assume the role of CFO, where he will continue to support the company’s capital markets, financial strategy and corporate development initiatives.
“This transition reflects a natural evolution as we move from strategic positioning into execution,” said Mr. Vanry. “Johnny brings deep familiarity with the Prospect Markets platform and a strong capital markets background while I remain focused on financial discipline, capital allocation and supporting the company’s long-term growth objectives. DeepMarkit thanks Curtis for his contributions and wishes him well in his future endeavours.”
The board of directors believes the leadership changes will strengthen operational focus while maintaining continuity in financial oversight and strategic execution.
About DeepMarkit Corp.
DeepMarkit is a technology company enabling next-generation digital experiences across prediction markets, blockchain infrastructure, artificial intelligence and tokenization. The company is developing a sports prediction market platform built on the Avalanche blockchain, using a proprietary ranking algorithm to turn real-world sports events into dynamic, insight-driven markets that promote active fan participation.
