A leading blockchain professional service company has announced that it has hired senior bankers from investment firms JPMorgan and Jefferies Financial Group to lead a new blockchain strategy and advisory division.
Wachsman, with offices in New York and Dublin, has the world’s largest blockchain-focused public relations team, who have helped over 100 organisations to achieve their audience engagement goals, according to its website.
Now, in a bid to expand its team, the company has revealed the addition of its new members. Michael Chang joins Wachmans as managing director and will lead the firm’s strategic advisory group in New York. Chang was the former senior vice president of the technology investment banking group at Jefferies. Franklin Bi, will be supporting Chang as the associate director. Previously Bi, was the vice president and blockchain strategy lead for JPMorgan’s Blockchain Center of Excellence.
Wachsman’s Strategic Advisory Group is designed to provide blockchain consulting and advisory services to existing clients of Wachman’s, in addition to publicly-traded corporations and privately-held companies globally.
Those on Wachsman’s portfolio include eCommerce and payments-focused digital currency Dash; regulated Swiss financial intermediary, service provider, and asset manager Bitcoin Suisse AG; social trading network eToro; blockchain-based non-profit Sweetbridge; blockchain-based event ticketing platform BlockParty; and the world’s first Bitcoin non-profit organisation BitGive, to name a small few.
“Today is a landmark occasion for our rapidly growing company,” said David Wachsman, CEO. “We have exceeded our clients’ expectations with world-class public relations support and many of them have asked us to do more for them. With the experience and expertise that Michael and Franklin share, we now have the talent to offer a wider range of services. Subject matter expertise in this world-changing technology is extremely valuable, so we’re proud to have attracted some of the brightest minds in blockchain to lead our new Strategic Advisory Group.”
Wachsman isn’t the only one that is hiring former bankers to lead new ventures in the crypto and blockchain sphere.
Earlier this month, it was reported that San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is to expand its presence in Japan as it continues to build an open financial system for the world. Nao Kitazawa, a former investment banker at Morgan Stanley Japan, will be leading the new office. Blockchain, a cryptocurrency wallet service, revealed in April that it had hired Breanne Madigan, a former Goldman Sachs executive, to boost its presence with institutional investors. Whereas, Richard Kim, another former Goldman Sachs executive, was hired by early crypto investor Mike Novogratz to become the new chief operating officer of his crypto merchant bank Galaxy Digital.
With interest rising in the market, whether it’s to do with the blockchain or digital currency assets, Wall Street traders and hedge funds are being attracted to the space.