(Commonwealth Union)_Executives from established banks are relocating to emerging companies operating in the trenches of digital assets, leaving prominent positions in innovative units and subsidiaries. For instance, according to a recent CoinDesk report, Alexandre Kech, director of blockchain and digital assets at Citi Ventures, is leaving the organization to assume a position at Six Digital Exchange. Six Digital, a digital asset exchange based in Switzerland, offers custody, trading, and settlement services for digital assets.
Kech tweeted about his resignation from the bank but not about his new job, referring to an “amazing chance” in November in the social media post. Itay Tuchman, the head of foreign exchange at Citi Venture and another important member of the banking industry’s digital assets team also left his position. However, they are not the only ones. Danielle Johnson, a former Credit Suisse managing director, and three J.P. Morgan executives recently departed for Galaxy Digital, according to numerous media reports.
A former Citi executive named Milena Kohlhofer was also hired by U.S. Bank to help it use blockchain to improve productivity in its capital markets division. She brings her prior experience leading initiatives involving digital assets and strategic investments to the Citi Markets division.
In a sign of the bank’s interest in the technology, U.S. Bank said Kohlhofer will oversee “the strategic development of fundamental blockchain capabilities to support a range of use cases across the capital markets sector”. According to Bloomberg, which broke the news first, a Six representative has confirmed his hire but has declined to make any other comments.
With rumours that he would be joining a digital-asset firm, Kech will be following Citigroup’s head of foreign exchange Itay Tuchman, whose departure was disclosed in August. Tuchman played a key role in the bank’s latest investigation of digital assets.
The two exits show a trend of banking professionals entering the cryptocurrency industry. Three JPMorgan (JPM) execs left for crypto companies in June. The next month, Danielle Johnson, a former managing director of Credit Suisse (CS), was appointed by Galaxy Digital to lead sales and product strategy for institutional investors.
Kech and Six did not respond to demands for comment right away.
