Tradewind, a marketplace for precious metals with a chain of blocks, hired a senior executive at JPMorgan.
According to Tradewind, Michael Albanese, the last time being the global head of collateral management at megabank in New York, has more than 20 years of experience in major financial institutions and will help a startup to expand its product range and customer base.
“Michael is a leader with considerable experience working with corporations, creating cost-effective products, working at scale and delivering profits to shareholders,” says a press release from Blake Darcy, executive chairman of Tradewind.
And also added:
"The Board and I are confident that he is the right person to take Tradewind to a new level in our global pursuit of a more efficient, transparent, safe and cost-effective ecosystem of precious metals."
Tradewind, launched in March 2018 with the aim of putting gold trading on the blockchain, was supported at the early stage of IEX, by the exchange presented to Flash Boys in Michael Lewis' bestseller. Former IEX product manager Matt Trudeau is co-founder of Tradewind and served as its president (he is now Chief Strategy Officer at the ErisX crypto-futures exchange). The startup says it uses the VaultChain blockchain based on the R3 Corda platform.
Until now, Tradewind did not have a CEO, only director Mike Hoton, who will keep his job, according to a company press spokesman.
Albanese has been working for JPMorgan for 15 years, the last three of them were engaged in collateral. Prior to that, he served as global securities officer, head of corporate trust in Japan, and vice president of product management for global corporate trust.
“There are clear opportunities to improve how physical assets are traded, calculated, stored and mobilized as security, both in the precious metals space and beyond,” said Albanese in a press release.
Tradewind has established partnerships with organizations such as Royal Canadian Mint and Asahi Refining, and also funds large metal producers such as Goldcorp, Agnico Eagle Mines, IAMGOLD and Wheaton Precious Metals. According to Crunchbase, he collected a total of $ 19.6 million .
