English company Copper Technologies is planning to develop a top-level brokerage cryptocurrency platform. The firm, which specializes in providing infrastructure for digital assets, has recruited former Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) executives to run its new managing unit.
The brokerage platform will aim to grant investors and banks direct access to the purchase of cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg reported.
The team will be led by Micheal Roberts – BofA’s former head of brokerage platforms for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The rest of the team consists of former BofA directors Adam Groom, Paul Barham, Ben Carr, and Ross Budgen.
The career change for the former BofA employees displays the notable tendency for traditional bankers to move toward the crypto industry. During the Miami Bitcoin Conference last week, executives from big firms like Fidelity International, Mastercard (NYSE:MA), and E&Y attended the event, presumably considering career and investment opportunities.
Similar firms like Copper, who are looking to offer brokerage in the cryptocurrency space, usually buy digital assets through an exchange before trading them. Copper solved this particular problem through the use of their ‘ClearLoop’ network, launched back in 2020.
Copper CEO Dmitry Tokarev explained that the firm’s infrastructure will isolate the trading process with purchases from exchanges, “to make sure that a true prime brokerage offering can be enabled in this space.”
“There’s not a single sell-side institution on the planet, or at least in the top 20, that is not working on something in digital assets,” he stated.
At the moment, Copper is holding an additional funding round, after which it is expected to be valued at around $3 billion.
On the Flipside
- After not receiving full approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority in regards to anti-money laundering rules, Copper is seeking to get its regulation status approved for carrying out operations in Switzerland.