Cryptos: Citi’s digital asset director joins SIX Digital Exchange

Kech (pictured) joins the Swiss exchange after just one year at Citi Venture, Citigroup’s venture unit where he was also general secretary of the Securities Market Practice Group, a group of custodians, banks, central banks and central securities depositories developing market practices.

From 2012-2018, Kech was head of securities and FX markets, and head of standards Asia Pacific, at the US bank.

Prior to joining Citi, he spent 17 years at global financial services company, Swift, where he held several management roles in the standards department around the management of ISO 15022, ISO 20022, and associated market practices. 

Kech joined Swift from BNY Mellon where he was an operations executive, team lead, and business analyst.

A SIX spokesperson confirmed Kech’s appointment.

Coinbase hires ex-Goldman EQD banker for derivatives push

Usman Naeem (right), managing director in the equity derivatives division at Goldman Sachs, is another banking executive shifting to the crypto space.

The Goldman executive has joined Coinbase Global institutional arm to lead its derivatives efforts as global head of derivative sales and agency trading. Based in London, he reports to Brett Tejpaul, head of institutional sales, trading, custody, and prime services at Coinbase.

Naeem joins the crypto firm after eight years at Goldman – he was promoted to managing director in equity derivatives in 2019. Naeem also worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch from 2009 to 2014 as vice president, equity derivatives.

Coinbase has been laying the groundwork to expand into derivatives for months. In January, Coinbase announced its acquisition of futures exchange FairX, which is registered with US regulators. In late 2021, the company launched a partnership with Marex Solutions which specialises in customised derivative products via Coinbase Prime, its crypto custodian and liquidity hub, to broaden their institutional digital hedging and crypto investment capabilities.

In June, Coinbase extended a hiring freeze and laid off 18% of staff as the market downturn worsened. Executives from major financial firms such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock, were among those who had employment offers rescinded by Coinbase. The company has since renewed some hiring, including for its overseas expansion.

Valour makes changes at the top

Valour, the ETP subsidiary of Canada’s DeFi Technologies has made changes at the top of its senior management team with the appointment of Olivier Roussy Newton as CEO. 

Roussy Newton (right), a co-founder of Valour, will assume the role of CEO as a strategic move to ‘accelerate its further growth trajectory, to increase its global reach, build new partnerships and align corporate governance initiatives of the company globally’.

He replaces Tommy Fransson who had a short stint of eight months in the role. Roussy Newton also sits on the board of Swiss crypto bank, Seba Bank.

Russell Starr, who stepped in after Fransson’s departure, will re-assume the role of head of capital markets and maintain his role as executive chairman to focus on building out the company's capital markets presence in North America.

Fransson was appointed CEO at Valour in January 2022. Prior to joining Valour, Fransson was deputy CEO at the Nordic Growth Market (NGM) and head of the Nordic Derivatives Exchange for almost 10 years. He will replace Diana Biggs, who will move to DeFi Technologies, Valour's parent company, to take on the chief strategy officer role.

Syz Capital adds crypto specialist to head liquid alternatives

Syz Capital has appointed a new head of liquid alternatives to lead the Swiss group’s efforts in the crypto space.

Richard Byworth (right) will serve as one of three managing partners, alongside Marc Syz, who is CEO of the group, and Olivier Maurice, head of private markets.

Byworth was most recently CEO of crypto company Eqonex Group. He was instrumental to list the company on the Nasdaq exchange but left after Eqonex closed its crypto exchange to focus on other digital asset business lines, including asset management and structured products. Prior to joining Eqonex, Byworth spent 18 years working in investment banking, most recently for Nomura in Hong Kong.

Zurich-based Syz Capital is the alternative investment arm of the Syz Group.

‘Cryptocurrencies and digital assets are on the rise, and we want to provide our clients with the ability to access them in a secure manner,’ said Yvan Gaillard, CEO of Bank Syz.

Digital assets custodian taps Borsa Italiana

Digital asset custodian Komainu has appointed Nicolas Bertrand as its chief executive officer to lead Komainu throughout its next ‘growth phase and further help bridge the worlds of traditional and decentralised finance for institutions’.

Bertrand (right) has over 20 years of experience in market infrastructure and digital assets, including more than a decade at Borsa Italiana and the London Stock Exchange. He is also an ambassador at the Global Blockchain Business Council and has advised several digital asset businesses.

The former head of derivatives markets and commodities at Borsa Italiana, has been charged with scaling the company and to expand its global footprint.

Komainu was founded in 2018 as a joint venture between global investment bank Nomura, digital asset security firm Ledger, and full-service digital asset investment and trading group CoinShares, to fill a gap in the marketplace and provide institutions with secure and compliant custody solutions enabling exposure to the global digital assets ecosystem.