PwC & NYSE Top Executives Quit to Join Bitcoin Firms

After Coinbase, Gemini, and Ripple; bitcoin.com.au joins the list to hire top executives from Wall Street. The latest one to lose its top executive is the big four accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia whose former director of digital strategy is joining Bitcoin.com.au as its new CEO. Recently, NYSE’s former CIO Robert Cornish took up the role of CTO in Gemini.

Ben Ingram of PwC Australia the new CEO of bitcoin.com.au

The big companies in the mainstream industries are increasingly losing their talent, especially at the top level to the cryptocurrency world. After employees’ exodus from Wall Street, other c-suite executives are following the suit, all over the world.

One of the big four accounting firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is the latest in this growing list. Ben Ingram who worked as a director in charge of the digital strategy in PwC left the firm in March. Now, he has joined bitcoin.com.au, a cryptocurrency exchange as its new CEO.

Ingram shares his optimistic views in the crypto sector with,

“We’re in the early-stage development of a new protocol. I think the core premise of distributed ledger technology (DLT) has very obvious widespread appeal. Even if the tech capabilities at present aren’t capable, I think humans will prevail.”

He further stated,

“We know this tech doesn’t have a dead-end. While the evolutionary path hasn’t been fully determined, I think there’s enough evidence that there is a path.”

Ingram will be working on the exchange’s functionality and developing crypto-based financial products in areas like superannuation.

Talking about the exchange, Ingram says that the digital exchange that currently provides services only for Bitcoin and Ethereum differs from the typical exchange in the way that,

“It provides people one of the easiest ways to get into bitcoin — and importantly, get back out of bitcoin. That includes same-day settlement, so cash back into your account as at the date of the transaction.”

Ben Ingram’s exit from the traditional world of finance was followed by Rob Jesudason, the financial chief of CBA who left the bank to join Block.one, the company behind the 5th largest cryptocurrency EOS.

Also, read: Clarity is the Key Word to Turn Bears into Bulls Says Todd Colvin

Robert Cornish of NYSE becomes the CTO of Gemini

Gemini, a digital asset exchange and custodian by the bitcoin billionaire Winklevoss brothers recently announced the addition of Robert Cornish to their team as Chief Technology Officer. Cornish previously worked as the Chief Information Officer at New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Cornish will be joining the Gemini team next month who will be responsible for the exchange’s strategy, architecture, technology team, and deployment of Nasdaq’s SMARTS market surveillance technology.

The CEO of Gemini, Tyler Winklevoss appreciated Rob as he said,

“Rob is a tremendous addition to our team. He will ensure that Gemini continues to deliver the best platform experience to our customers as possible and set the standards of excellence for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole. Rob is globally recognized for his abilities in leading high-performing engineering teams, his expertise in exchange and matching-engine architecture, and running high-throughput platforms that are both secure and resilient.”

This is certainly a good time for Gemini to make such additions as recently it became the first licensed Zcash exchange to obtain approval from NYDFS to offer trading and custody services to Zcash customers.

Cryptocurrency market is making a huge impact on the mainstream industries as evident from the fact that in the past few months, the employees’ exodus is rising significantly.