Morgan Stanley Hires Credit Suisse ‘Bitcoin Expert’ To Head Its Digital Assets Unit

With the crypto market getting into the mainstream, there is a growing trend witnessed among financial institutions to poach leaders from its competitors to spearhead their in-house cryptocurrency division. As per the eFinancialCareers report on Tuesday, July 31, the sixth-largest bank in the United States - Morgan Stanly has poached the Credit Suisse ‘Bitcoin expert’ Andrew Peel to now head its own digital assets unit.

Upon joining, Mr. Peel will be working at Morgan Stanley’s offices in London and Zurich. Peel previously worked as vice president of sales and trading innovation at Credit Suisse. His LinkedIn profile notes that he was the “trading subject matter expert for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, client coverage and internal presentations.”

Although things are not put in block-and-white regarding Peel’s role at Morgan Stanley, as this hiring is viewed ore as a strategic step towards steadily expanding Morgan Stanley’s involvement in the burgeoning digital currency space, which has off lately been witnessing a huge demand from institutional players.

Other Morgan Stanley competitors like Goldman Sachs have already started exploring several options in the crypto space. Three months back the company made an announcement that it could possibly launch a crypto trading desk in the future owing to huge demand from institutional investors, endowments and hedge funds.

Much recently, two weeks back, asset management giant BlackRock expressed interest to venture in the crypto space. BlackRock’s global chief investment strategist Richard Turnill said: "We see cryptocurrencies potentially becoming more widely used in the future as the market matures. Yet for now we believe they should only be considered by those who can stomach potentially complete losses. Similarly, blockchain needs to overcome significant hurdles to reach its promising future.”

Morgan Stanley’s involvement in the crypto space is not a new story. After the launch of Bitcoin futures last December by CBOE and CME Group, Morgan Stanley has been helping its clients to trade in this investment products.

However, some of the top leaders of the company have been seen making contradicting stamens to the firm’s actions. Several times, CEO James Gorman has mentioned that bitcoin is “by definition speculative” and is nevertheless a “fascinating development” and “more than a fad.”

These latest developments in the crypto space is a testament to the fact that banking institutions who were once the arch rivals of the crypto industry are left with no option but to be a part of its mainstream adoption.