“The industry and the technology became too big to ignore,” he said. “There is going to be significant value creation across this ecosystem and we want to make sure clients understand how the value creation occurs.”
The bank’s move signals traditional finance’s new openness to bitcoin, as its value soared over the past year to a record in October. JPMorgan’s Dimon, who later said he regretted his fraud comments, said in October that he’d follow his clients, whatever his opinion. Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman, who reportedly once called bitcoin “totally surreal,” said recently it’s not a fad.
Gorman’s bank appointed Sheena Shah to lead a new crypto research team in September, while JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs have begun offering crypto-futures trading. Mastercard Inc. just struck a deal making it easier for banks to offer cryptocurrency rewards on their credit and debt cards.
“We’re experiencing the golden days of Wall Street in crypto,” said Michael Bucella, general partner at crypto investment firm BlockTower Capital. “We are in the early days of capital markets 2.0.”
Headhunter Bombardment
The staff hunt appears to be gaining momentum at both banks and crypto companies.
“Even within the past week or two, we have been bombarded with headhunters who are looking for people to come and be crypto traders in everything from hedge funds all the way to larger banks,” Justin Schmidt, head of strategy at crypto-trading engineering startup Talos, who joined from Goldman Sachs, said last month.
Working at a crypto firm may offer lifestyle improvements not traditionally seen on Wall Street, as well as the chance to own a stake in something, said Elsie Brown-Russell, who was the first hire on the product and technology team at crypto firm Grayscale Investments. Whatever the competition, Wall Street is beefing up.
Scott Wilk, who worked in crypto before landing at venture capital firm Imaginary, pointed to “all these big banks that wanted nothing to do with crypto.” But, he said, “meanwhile, you find out they were kind of secretly always doing their research in the background, knowing that there would be a time when it would be okay to say that you’re in crypto.”
--With assistance from Scott Carpenter.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.