JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) blockchain executive Amber Baldet is leaving the Wall Street behemoth to start her own venture. She has been the head of JPMorgan’s Blockchain Center of Excellence, which carried out several pilots and mapped out the bank’s blockchain strategy. In an internal memo seen by Reuters, the company said Christine Moy would replace Baldet.
In a statement sent to media channels, JPMorgan spokeswoman Jessica Francisco said:
“Amber is extremely talented and helped build the outstanding team we have today. We respect her desire to start her own venture, and we wish her nothing but the best.”
JPMorgan is one of the largest Wall Street banks to demonstrate interest in blockchain, which is the technology underpinning Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies. The company has launched several blockchain initiatives, among them Quorum - a blockchain solution focused on applications and aimed at enterprises.
Baldet was responsible for managing product development at Quorum and putting in place the blockchain strategy of the investment bank.
In October 2017, JPMorgan announced a collaboration with the Royal Bank of Canada and the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group to build a blockchain-based platform for global payments. The Interbank Information Network (IIN), as the project is called, is expected to support faster payments and increased security. The IIN, which is powered by Quorum, was working as of February 2018, according to JPMorgan’s CFO Marianne Lake.
JPMorgan was among the first banking giant to show interest in blockchain although its CEO made disparaging comments about Bitcoin. In September 2017, Jamie Dimon made headlines by saying that Bitcoin was fraud and he would fire everyone involved with it.
Moy, the new head of the Blockchain Center of Excellence, has been managing blockchain product development at the investor services and capital markets division of JPMorgan.
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