Coinbase Faucets Ex-Barclays Markets Exec to Head Institutional Protection

Coinbase has employed former Barclays markets veteran, Brett Tejpaul, to move up institutional protection on the San Francisco-based crypto alternate.

Tejpaul spent 17 years at Barclays in numerous management roles together with international head of gross sales (throughout all of mounted revenue and equities) and international head of credit score and commodities. He additionally pioneered Barclays’ first “head of digital” function, which included managing fintech enterprise investments. 

Tejpaul mentioned he was intrigued by crypto when he first began trying into it again at the start of 2018. 

“But it surely didn’t really feel like there was sufficient of an ecosystem or the infrastructure to fulfill operational due diligence,” he mentioned. “Quick ahead to as we speak, I am amazed at how far the crypto-economy has developed.”

It’s an ecosystem that’s moved on from a slim opportunistic capacity to commerce bitcoin, mentioned Tejpaul, who reckons the most important cryptocurrency isn’t essentially at all times the gateway drug for establishments dipping their toes in crypto.

“For those who begin enthusiastic about the utility operate of crypto with the backdrop of stablecoins, it is attainable the primary engagement of institutional shoppers could come through a stablecoin, possibly through USDC reasonably than buying and selling bitcoin outright,” he mentioned.

It was again across the begin of 2018 that Barclays was reported to be in talks to open a crypto buying and selling desk, a plan the financial institution by no means formally confirmed and is known to have later quietly shelved.

Earlier than becoming a member of Barclays in 2003, Tejpaul spent almost 9 years at JPMorgan as head of structured credit score merchandise in Europe.