Former Celsius executive Aaron Iovine has joined the team at JPMorgan Chase & Co as its executive director of digital assets regulatory policy. The news comes only days after the bank’s Chief Executive Jamie Dimon described cryptocurrencies as frauds and decentralised Ponzi schemes.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Aaron Iovine, who was head of policy and regulatory affairs at the now-bankrupt crypto lender Celsius, has now been appointed a JPMorgan to act as its executive director of digital assets regulatory policy. Iovine left Celsius in September following an eight-month stint. The appointment becomes headlines only days after CEO Jamie Dimon famously called cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin “decentralised Ponzi schemes.”
Iovine will reportedly work with JPMorgan’s regulatory affairs group which is headed by Sharon Yang. Yang previously served as a deputy assistant secretary for international financial markets at the U.S. Treasury Department. JPMorgan’s CEO has been vocal about his disdain of cryptocurrencies saying that he’s a “major skeptic of crypto tokens.” Dimon first voiced his concern over cryptos prior to the collapse of Mt. Gox saying that Bitcoin was “a terrible store of value” and that the cryptocurrency “can be replicated over and over.” Dimon for years called Bitcoin a “fraud” and “fool’s gold,” but the bank launched its own U.S.-dollar pegged stablecoin called JPM Coin. JPMorgan also does allow its wealth management clients to buy cryptos including Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic, as well as shares in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.
JPMorgan also posted a job opening for a digital asset counsel opening with its corporate and investment bank in New York. The successful applicant will be tasked to verse a wide range of duties, including advising on regulatory and compliance issues, daily business support, and documentation issues related to the ban’s digital assets initiatives.
Celsius’s Troubles Continue
The embattled crypto lender filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July following the collapse of the Terra ecosystem and Terra’s dollar-pegged UST stablecoin lost its peg. Celsius is just one of many high-profile companies that have been forced into bankruptcy. Voyager Capital and Three Arrows Capital followed suit not long after.
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