Copper, a provider of institutional digital asset custody and trading solutions, has named former UK Chancellor Phillip Hammond as chair of the company.
Lord Hammond, who was MP for Runneymede and Weybridge from 1997 to 2019 and most recently Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019, has served as a senior adviser to the company since October 2021.
During this time, Copper claims he has provided strategic advice to the team as the firm has ‘grown significantly and expanded its operations and services globally’.
Lord Hammond has been at the forefront of promoting the UK as a global leader in digital asset technology and publicly making the case for the need to connect traditional finance with distributed ledger technology and reforming the UK’s regulatory framework governing digital assets.
Since Lord Hammond joined Copper as Senior Adviser, the firm has grown from 50 to over 300 people, doubling revenues. Landmark deals with leading financial institutions have included Copper becoming the infrastructure partner of State Street Digital, onboarding leading hedge funds and partnering with multiple participants in the Defi ecosystem.
Lord Hammond said, “I have greatly enjoyed working with Copper, a company that has pioneered the use of digital asset investment technology and which is increasingly emerging as the leading option for global financial institutions to trade and safeguard their digital assets.
“Recent security and regulatory challenges affecting the digital asset sector have only served to emphasise the need for safe, well-regulated trading infrastructure. I remain firmly of the view that the post-Brexit UK Financial Services sector needs to embrace Distributed Ledger Technology as a key part of its strategy to remain a major global financial centre. I look forward to continuing to make the case for this potential to be realised as Chairman of Copper.”
Copper CEO Dmitry Tokarev added, “It has been an outstanding privilege to benefit from Lord Hammond’s strategic expertise forged by his successful career in politics and business. I am thrilled he has agreed to become Chair of Copper. In addition to his guidance and experience benefiting and enhancing Copper, his public advocacy relating to the importance of connecting traditional finance with distributed ledger technology comes at a time when it is needed more than ever.”
Last year, Copper linked with Fenergo to implement its client lifecycle management and AML solution.
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