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Why bankers are migrating from blue chips to blockchain Posted on : Jun 20 - 2018

I vividly remember a distinct shift that occurred in the late 1990s in our common perception of the internet. Ambitious startups like Google, Yahoo, and Amazon began to break through the mainstream barrier, and traditionalists that once labeled computers a passing fad for the intrinsically tech-savvy started to recognize their tremendous potential — and to regret their initial skepticism. Moments like these happen only a handful of times in a generation, and we’re seeing one happen again with the rise of blockchain technology.

I was one of the lucky few to discover the potential and promise of blockchain early on. As I climbed the corporate ladder in traditional financial services, conversations of blockchain and Bitcoin usually held around the water cooler began migrating to the C-Suite. It was at this point, when the nascent tech and its applications had such formidable room for growth, that I decided to specialize. In the Technology Investment Banking Group at Jefferies, I founded and led our blockchain coverage group, and the demand from our clients to learn what blockchain represented was immense. We learned quickly that the prospect of decentralization can have monumental implications on big business and that its diverse use cases would fundamentally change the way we interact. However, the more I fell down the blockchain rabbit hole, the more I realized that not only did I want to advocate for the technology within traditional business, but I wanted to help build the movement from the inside. And, just as many did with the internet in the late 1990s, I made a nontraditional career pivot — from blue chip to blockchain.

It seems to be the unspoken trend on Wall Street, but you’re about to see a lot more suits turn to high-promise blockchain startups. Just in the last month, former CEO of Visa U.K. Marc O’Brien, who assisted Visa in doubling its international business revenue, announced he would be leaving to head crypto-banking app Crypterium. O’Brien follows Goldman Sachs Vice President Chris Matta, who recently announced he would be leaving the banking company to start his own crypto firm, Crescent Crypto Asset Management. Which brings us to Eric Piscini, Principal and Global Blockchain Leader at Deloitte, who recently sent shockwaves through the international community when he announced he would be leaving the company to serve as Chief Operating Officer of crypto supply chain startup Citizens Reserve. As the laundry list of industry experts moving to blockchain gets longer and more high profile, traditionalists in a variety of industries are beginning to wonder: Why is this happening?

A good place to start is the recent actions, announcements, and sentiments from local, national, and international regulators as they begin to better enforce blockchain projects and, more specifically, the practice of ICOs. Despite the supposed uncertainty surrounding governmental classifications of blockchain-based assets (are they securities, property, commodities, currencies, or a new class entirely?), we are beginning to see many jurisdictions engage in open dialogue with industry leaders and embrace a “protect investors first without stifling innovation” approach. It is now no longer a question of whether regulatory bodies will allow blockchain and its tokenized use case to proceed but of how they will allow such an implementation to proceed — an important distinction in the eyes of experts wary to make the transition. View More