(Bloomberg) -- Activision Blizzard Inc.’s departing president will take on the chief executive officer role at the blockchain startup behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection of non-fungible tokens.

Daniel Alegre, who was also Activision’s chief operating officer, will take on the CEO post at Miami-based Yuga Labs Inc. in the first half of 2023, according to a Yuga statement Monday. 

Activision announced Alegre’s departure last week, saying the executive’s tenure would end when his contract expires next year on March 31. Alegre joined Activision in April 2020 after a 16-year career at Google.

Alegre is moving from an embattled company to an embattled sector. Activision is working on reshaping its corporate culture following a 2021 sexual misconduct scandal, and is awaiting the outcome of a pending $69 billion acquisition by Microsoft Corp. — which is being challenged by the Federal Trade Commission. 

Meanwhile, Yuga Labs is among the suite of companies that have generated buzz during the cryptocurrency and blockchain boom of recent years. Much of that enthusiasm has withered as the industry suffers through the high-profile implosions of several crypto outfits, including the FTX exchange. 

Yuga Labs, which was founded in 2021, was valued at $4 billion after closing on a $450 million funding round in March. Alegre will replace Yuga’s outgoing CEO Nicole Muniz, who will stay on as a partner and adviser. 

In addition to creating the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, Yuga Labs is also working on a metaverse project, in which land sales have drawn hundreds of millions dollars worth of cryptocurrency. 

Still, the company has not been free of controversy — including an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for whether its digital-asset sales violated federal law. It is also the subject of an investor lawsuit over celebrity promotion of its NFTs.

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