Amber Baldet is the former head of J.P. Morgan’s blockchain arm. And while she is no longer on Wall Street, having stepped down from her role at JP Morgan early last month, the former institution insider believes that major banks like her former one entering the cryptocurrency space is imminent.
“I think it’s coming sooner than people probably think,” she said. “But even where the will is, the legal and regulatory framework is challenging.”
So far, some of the main reasons for financial institutions in the US not entering the cryptocurrency market despite record investor profits during last winter include a lack of legal rulings and regulations, and the challenge of custody.
Finance institutions have few methods of protecting a business’s digital resources, however some solutions were announced this past week, when Japanese-based bank Nomura and Coinbase both announced new custody offerings.
Baldet, who is on Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list of most influential young business people, has created a new start-up after leaving JP Morgan, called Clovyr. She revealed it at the Consensus blockchain conference last week, and talked about what the company will do.
Details are still a little sparse, but it seems like it will offer services similar to an app store, but for projects built on blockchain technology.
“There’s no way to discover what’s out there right now, there’s no Google for finding applications,” Baldet said. “The ability to discover apps is helpful but the ability to build them is also encompassed in there.”
While at JP Morgan, Baldet oversaw creation of JP Morgan’s blockchain technology, which is used for clearing and settling cross-border payments as well as derivatives. But it can have further implications, as well.
“It’s an open-sourced project, it’s completely agnostic and industry agnostic as well,” Baldet said.
