JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM). has hired former Celsius Network executive Aaron Iovine to oversee its new digital asset regulatory policy division.
The hiring was announced on Iovine’s LinkedIn profile and later confirmed by the financial services giant.
It is a curious hire for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, as head of policy and regulatory affairs at cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network, Iovine played a part in one of the most spectacular crashes in cryptocurrency history.
Celsius’ incredible demise left customers billions out of pocket, and Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings have been highly acrimonious, with accusations of financial mishandling being levelled against former chief executive Alex Mashinsky.
Iovine’s name has largely been excluded from the furore around Celsius’ collapse, and he only held the position at Celsius between February and September of this year.
Secondly, JPMorgan head Jamie Dimon has been outspoken against the cryptocurrencies, labelling them “decentralised ponzi schemes” before congress in September.
“I’m a major skeptic on crypto tokens, which you call currency, like Bitcoin,” Dimon said in his September testimony.
While Dimon’s view is a debatable one, Celsius Network was operated like a Ponzi scheme and is being investigated as such, so Iovine’s hire comes as a surprise.
However, the true extent of Iovine’s involvement in Celsius’ collapse is not clear.
Despite Dimon being an outspoken critic of cryptocurrency, JPMorgan has been bullish on the underlying blockchain technology, and has even launched its own ‘JPM coin’ to facilitate cross-border client payments.
Proactive has extended an offer of comment to Aaron Iovine.