Conventional wisdom has banks watching Bitcoin with great wariness, but two recent moves may suggest otherwise.
Bitcoin successfully luring executives from financial services powerhouses shows a vote of confidence in the cryptocurrency by the people (if not the institutions) making up the financial services industry.
Paul Camp, until recently managing director and global head of JP Morgan Chase’s transaction services business, has defected to bitcoin startup Circle. Prior to working at JPM, Camp filled a similar role at Deutsche Bank Circle has gained praise since opening its doors to the public this fall for its click mobile app and overall ease of use.
In a press release, Circle calls Camp “the most senior level business leader in banking to get into the [cryptocurrency] space to-date,” and adds:
Paul is one of the most respected executives in global finance, having been named one of the “100 Most Influential People in Finance” (Treasury & Risk Magazine) while also ranked as a “Who’s Who in Treasury & Cash Management” (Global Finance Magazine).
This move suggests Circle has ambitions beyond the P2P functionality it now promotes on its site. Bitcoin’s potential as a medium of foreign exchange is well documented, and Camp is ideally suited to help Circle pursue that. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire confirmed this, telling Bank Innovation, “Bringing our full product into global markets is absolutely a focus and bringing Paul onto the team will be helpful as we build out the commercial partnerships and financial operations around the world.”
Ed Boyle, formerly general manager in the prepaid unit at American Express, has launched a Bitcoin debit card startup called Blade Financial, of which he is CEO. Blade allows for virtual currencies and traditional currencies such as the euro to be spent using traditional payment rails, specifically debit cards. The company describes itself this way on its site:
Blade’s Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) empowers digital currency spending via debit cards on existing global payment networks. Wallet and exchange customers can spend crypto-currencies like money. The Blade model-driven solution handles onboarding, collateralization, risk management, authorization, settlement, and exception processing.
Note the language — cryptocurrenices can be spent like money, not as money. That makes this a good place to note that bitcoin as a commodity has stayed relatively stable on the month compared to gold and oil, but its market capitalization is about half of what it was a year ago.
Paul Camp addressed the currency/commodity conundrum in this way, writing to Bank Innovation:
Most consumers want to use their own local currency for payments and transactions, and that’s why Circle emphasizes the user’s local currency (e.g. USD, EUR, JPY, etc.) when viewing their balance and making and receiving payments. However, to easily move value over the internet using bitcoin requires a global, liquid market in digital assets such as Bitcoin, which in this case acts more like a commodity that sits inside of transactions than a currency that is used day to day by end-users.
Add Boyle and Camp to Visa CMO Kevin Burke, who joined Square this week, and it looks a great week for fintech disruptors poaching high-profile talent from the financial services industry.