- A top Bank of England executive has left the anti-crypto institution for crypto company Fireblocks
- The banks Head of Fintech Hub Varun Paul left the bank after 13 years to take up the role
- Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has continually dismissed the crypto sector
A top Bank of England executive has left the cryptocurrency-hating institution for a job…with a crypto firm. Varun Paul, who until yesterday was the head of the bank’s Fintech Hub, announced on a LinkedIn post (no, really) that after 13 years at the Bank of England that he was leaving to take up a role security at the cryptocurrency security company Fireblocks, a digital asset custody, transfer and settlement platform. The move is notable because of the anti-crypto stance of the Bank of England’s Governor Andrew Bailey, sentiments it seems his top executives don’t share.
Bank of England Stalwart Swaps Anti-crypto For Pro-crypto
Paul was nothing but complimentary in his overview of his time with the Bank of England, naturally, and in some ways it is unsurprising that someone who has spent the last year or so heading up a Fintech Hub should eventually plump for a job in crypto. However, those who have had to listen to governor Andrew Bailey’s comments in the past few years won’t be able to help but offer a wry smile at the fact that one of the bank’s top executives had jumped ship to a crypto firm.
In March 2020 Bailey said that there was “no guarantee of the value of Bitcoin” after claiming it has “no intrinsic value”. More recently he called cryptocurrency the new “front line” in criminal scams. What does it say then when someone who has worked for the bank for 13 years decides that crypto is his sector of choice? That must have been one fun conversation.
UK to be Crypto Development Hub
It is not known whether Bailey’s viewpoint trickles down to other departments in the Bank of England, so it therefore isn’t known how many Bank of England employees reacted with horror when Chancellor Rishi Sunak last week announced that he wanted the UK to be a hub for cryptocurrency and blockchain development, but it’s a fair guess that Bailey wasn’t exactly jumping for joy.
You do you, Andrew. You do you.
