JPMorgan Chase hired Aaron Iovine, a former executive from cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network, as its new executive director for digital assets regulatory policy this week.
Yes, the chief lobbyist from a company that froze customer assets and filed for bankruptcy protection in the summer was hired by the US’s largest bank by market capitalization.
It is currently fighting creditor claims in court and regulators may still question who knew what and when before customers were locked out.
To be clear, there is no evidence that Iovine was involved in critical Celsius decisions or even the day-to-day operations of the company. A lobbyist is not a position in the C-suite.
Iovine did not respond to a request for comment, but his LinkedIn profile tells us through his career he has focused on “developing policies that foster responsible innovation while emphasizing consumer protection and regulatory oversight”.
Nonetheless, hiring someone from one of the most contentious stories in the crypto industry this year is an unusual move for JPMorgan. Crypto is still a newcomer, attracting a lot of investor interest but seeing very little adoption. JPMorgan is financial services royalty.
“If you’re a congressperson and you’re on the fence about crypto, and the person sitting across from you was affiliated with a company that is at least in the top five spectacular flame-outs of the crypto industry to date, that has to take away what you’re hearing from that person,” a former regulator familiar with the inner workings of the Capitol told me. JPMorgan declined to comment on Iovine’s hire.
Furthermore, an average politician could be forgiven if they felt JPMorgan was sending mixed signals. The bank’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, has long expressed his views on cryptocurrency.
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