JPMorgan Hires Former Executive from Celsius to Serve as Head of Crypto QuoteCoin
New York City: Aaron Iovine, a former executive of the cryptocurrency lending startup Celsius (CEL), has landed a new position. He will serve as the executive director of digital assets regulatory policy for the investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the United States.
Iovine had worked at Celsius as the head of policy and regulatory affairs, a position he departed in September after serving in that capacity there for the preceding eight months. According to Reuters, a representative for JPMorgan acknowledged that he had been hired but refused to give any other specifics about the position.
It remains to be seen how Iovine would collaborate with his employer, Jamie Dimon, who recently testified before the United States Congress that cryptocurrencies were “decentralized Ponzi schemes.” Dimon is the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan. The CEO further cemented his image as a crypto-skeptic who is prepared to go to any extent to disparage the cryptocurrency business by making this comment. At the same time, Dimon said that he acknowledges the additional value that may be provided by blockchain technology, decentralized financing (DeFi), “tokens that do stuff,” and regulated stablecoins. Executive Dimon was quoted as telling a senator that he is “a huge skeptic on crypto tokens, which you term money, like bitcoin.” Dimon is one of a number of executives.
During this time, Celsius has already distributed more than three million dollars in legal costs to a variety of law firms as part of the bankruptcy processes it is going through. According to two recent documents that were submitted to a court, the total amount paid by the troubled lender is comprised of close to $2.6 million that was charged by the law firm Kirkland and Ellis for work performed during the two weeks between July 13 and July 31, and an additional $750,000 that was charged by the law firm Akin Gump. Both of these figures were charged to the troubled lender.
The failed financial institution is moving through with the next phase of the bankruptcy protection proceedings that it initiated under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.
After suffering large capital losses in June of last year as a result of the volatile market circumstances at the time, the business first banned withdrawals for clients in July of the same year. After a month, Celsius submitted their petition for protection under the bankruptcy laws.
In yet another instance of the company’s legal woes, it was disclosed at the beginning of this month that court documents that were submitted as part of the lender’s case have been made available for public access. This has resulted in the exposure of the personal information of thousands of the lender’s customers. The court filing makes it possible for anyone to access more than 14,500 pages of information regarding the business dealings of Alex Mashinsky, Dan Leon, and Nuke Goldstein, the co-founders of Celsius. Additionally, the filing makes it possible for anyone to access the names, wallet IDs, and data regarding cryptocurrency transactions of those who had invested their funds with the defunct platform.
