Nicolas Bertrand, chief executive of Komainu, the C.I.-based crypto asset custodian, has stepped down with immediate effect. Robert Johnson, who joined Komainu as CTO in 2023, has taken charge as interim CEO. Bertrand joined Komainu in September 2022, following a botched attempt to hire Matthew Chamberlain, then CEO of the London Metal Exchange.
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Komainu hires EMEA sales lead
Komainu, the C.I.-based digital asset custodian backed by Nomura, has hired Chad Walls as EMEA sales lead, based in London. He joins from Nickel Digital Asset Management.
Crypto Finance secures four licences in Germany
Crypto Finance AG, part of Deutsche Börse Group, has secured four licences from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin. The licences for its subsidiary, Crypto Finance (Deutschland) GmbH, include regulated digital asset trading, settlement, and custody services in Germany.
Ripple hires from BNY Mellon
Maxime de Guillebon has joined Ripple, the crypto payments service, after just six months at BNY Mellon. He is based in Switzerland, the home base of Metaco, which Ripple acquired in 2023. He was CEO of Zodia Custody before joining BNY Mellon as head of digital asset product.
Gemini appoints APAC head
Gemini has appointed Saad Ahmed as head of Asia Pacific. He joins from Grab, where he held executive leadership positions as the regional head of commercial and managing director, merchants.
Gemini launches in France
Gemini has been registered as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) by l’Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the French financial markets regulator. Gemini products will be available to retail and institutional users across France as it completes final preparations to open up access to the Gemini platform. Customers will be able to trade over 70…
VanEck selects Gemini
VanEck, the U.S.-based fund manager with USD76.4bn AuM, has named Gemini as custodian for its recently approved bitcoin ETF under the ticker HODL, which is listed on the Cboe BZX Exchange.
CLST and Copper partner for tri-party collateral management
CLST, an institutional lending and borrowing platform, has partnered with Copper, the UK-based institutional digital asset infrastructure provider, to develop Copper Pledge, a tri-party collateral management solution for digital asset markets. This partnership provides digital asset lenders with tools for optimising and de-risking their portfolios. Loans originated on CLST markets will be connected via APIs…
BBVA migrates custody to Metaco platform
BBVA Switzerland has signed an agreement with Metaco, the Switzerland-based digital asset infrastructure provider, to host its digital asset custody service on the Harmonize platform. In 2021, BBVA launched a Bitcoin trading and custody service. This was later expanded to include Ether. The bank has now migrated its custody service to Harmonize, which offers greater…
Taurus opens in Frankfurt
Taurus SA, the Switzerland-based digital asset infrastructure provider, has opened an office in Frankfurt, Germany. Leading the new office is Andreas Beller. Beller brings extensive experience in the financial sector gained at Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank. Taurus recently announced a partnership with Deutsche Bank, allowing the bank to extend digital asset custody services to its…