The growth of Bitcoin industry, and its huge potential to change the economy has started affecting the traditional finance industry. It can’t be more obvious than the brain drain happening from financial sector to the Bitcoin sector. In recent days, many top level executives from well-known financial institutions have switched jobs to join Bitcoin based companies. This brain drain is not just confined to the financial sector, but to other sectors as well.
Let’s take a look at some of the most recent and prominent “transfers”.
Cryptocurrency merchant bank Galaxy Digital, founded and run by former Wall Street exec Mike Novogratz, will reportedly be hiring Goldman Sachs executive Richard Kim as its new chief operating officer, Bloomberg reported yesterday, April 9.
Former Goldman Sachs employee Luka Jankovic also now works at Digital Galaxy as a senior investment associate, according to his LinkedIn.
Coinbase has hired a new vice president of communications, the cryptocurrency startup announced this Monday. Rachael Horwitz joins the company from Spark Capital, a Coinbase investor. She previously held high-level communications roles at Facebook and Twitter.
Coinbase also has hired a former Twitter executive in an effort to shore up its customer support teams. Tina Bhatnagar will serve as vice president of operations and technology. In that role, Bhatnagar – who at Twitter was VP of operations and user services – will lead teams connected both Coinbase and GDAX, its digital asset exchange.
Coinbase also hired a former New York Stock Exchange executive. New York Stock Exchange veteran Eric Scro will serve as Coinbase’s vice president of finance. Scro – who has held roles at NYSE since 2009 and previously worked for J.P. Morgan – will work out of New York City, with a focus on developing enterprise clients and partnerships.
In late March, the head of Wedbush Securities – where she was the first person to publish an analysis of Bitcoin’s (BTC) value back in 2013 – left in order to co-found a Blockchain investment fund and advisory business. In the beginning of April, the head of JP Morgan’s Blockchain center also left to start her own venture.
Robert Hughes also left his role as CFO at Overstock.com to become the CFO of the blockchain-technology joint venture, DeSoto Inc., which involves Overstock’s CEO, Patrick Byrne.
It is not all about money
There is already a growing movement of traditional financial executives leaving for opportunities in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector, but it’s a growing trend that is about much more than money.
Many people want a mission and purpose in life that aligns with their own ideals, and most corporations are simply divorced from any kind of true to mission to solve social problems or help communities in a meaningful way as a part of doing business.