Former J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. executive Blythe Masters has become one of the most high-profile Wall Street bankers to join the burgeoning digital-currency sector, taking on the leadership of a new platform for settling trades in bitcoin and other digital assets.

Ms. Masters, best known for helping pioneer the credit-derivatives markets in the 1990s, has agreed to become the chief executive of Digital Asset Holdings LLC, the company said late Tuesday. It was founded last year by Don Wilson, the CEO of proprietary trading...