Copper, which offers cryptocurrency trading services to the investment industry, has brought in executives from Bank of America (BofA) to work on a new unit, underlining the pull of crypto projects for high-flying financial professionals.
The new hires will work on Copper’s prime infrastructure offering, which supports prime brokers that want to offer crypto trading to clients, amid growing interest in digital asset investments from hedge funds and institutional investors.
The team will be run by Michael Roberts (pictured), who previously served as BofA’s managing director and head of the bank’s prime platform for EMEA. He is joined by former BofA team members Adam Groom and Paul Barham, as well as Ben Carr and Ross Budgen, who have experience in product development, account management and analytics.
Copper hopes to attract more prime brokers to its ClearLoop network, which aims to lower risks and improve transaction efficiency by allowing crypto trading without the need to add digital assets to exchanges.
Prime support
‘I have no doubt that Mike, Adam, Paul, Ben and Ross will fit seamlessly into the team as we push the boundaries of possibility within the Copper ecosystem and continue to develop infrastructure to empower prime brokers with the infrastructure they need,’ says Boris Bohrer-Bilowitzki, chief revenue officer at Copper, in a statement.
‘Boris and the team understand the technology institutional investors want and need to pursue crypto strategies,’ adds Roberts. ‘I thoroughly look forward to being on board and combining our collective experience as Copper embarks upon its next phase of growth.’
In recent years, large numbers of senior finance professionals have switched to roles at crypto firms. Last month, Copper made another hire from the investment banking world, bringing in former Citi executive Sabrina Wilson as chief operating officer.
In another recent example, Roger Bartlett, a Goldman Sachs veteran of 16 years, moved to crypto exchange Coinbase to run global financial operations. ‘It’s time to take that experience and follow my passion to help enable the next-generation crypto economy,’ he said in a LinkedIn post.
