The cryptocurrency space, since it has been breaking into the mainstream, has managed to attract a number of key tech and business people to its doors. The allure of new technology and potentially revolutionary fintech has gotten a number of impressive minds into this new ecosystem.
The latest to jump ship is Tim Wagner, a general manager of several Amazon Web Services business units in the past. He has now teamed up with Coinbase, the US’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange.
Fueling the fintech space
With cryptocurrencies still being a new and burgeoning space, there is plenty of room to grow, and new territory to be discovered. For this reason alone, many bright minds from finance, technology, business and management are finding the allure impossible to resist.
Wagner, as an example, is someone who ran services like AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, and AWS Serverless App Repository, and also spent several years in various high-profile managerial positions at Microsoft.
He will bring a wealth of talent, that is not necessarily cryptocurrency based, but important in its ability to help spread digital currencies further into the mainstream.
Endless list
Wagner is not the only one entering this space, nor is he the biggest name to jump aboard.
Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, run by the Winklevoss Twins recently hired former New York Stock Exchange executive, Robert Cornish, as its chief technology officer.
Cryptocurrency wallet Blockchain hired top Goldman Sachs executive, Breanne Madigan, as head of institutional sales and strategy.
Facebook’s global payments director, Kahina Van Dyke, recently joined Ripple as its new senior vice president of business and corporate development.
A director at the accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ben Ingram quit his position at the firm and joined the cryptocurrency exchange bitcoin.com.au as its CEO.
An exciting space
There is true excitement in the business world about cryptocurrency and Blockchain, and for those who are not jumping ship immediately to join it, there are possibilities of traditional companies branching out.
A Thomson Reuters survey has found that one in five financial institutions are considering cryptocurrency trading in 2018, as another example of the spread of this technology.
So clearly, as more heads of industry join the cryptocurrency march, it helps legitimize the space, but it also helps brings years of experience from other sectors into an area hungry to grow in the mainstream space.
Valeria Blokhina
Yuri Molchan
Dan Burgin
Alex Dovbnya