Former BoE head of fintech joins crypto firm

The Bank of England’s former head of fintech has been named director at crypto custody technology provider Fireblocks.

Varun Paul was head of the central bank’s fintech hub from February 2021 until April 2022. Prior to that, he spent more than two years as senior manager for the Bank of England’s Future of Finance project, and before that he was head of projects and fintech, financial stability.

His new role at Fireblocks will see him act as director of central bank digital currency (CBDC) and market infrastructure. He will be in charge of building the infrastructure for the integration of CBDCs.

Read more: BoE lays out its principles for a centralised digital currency

“Financial innovation in CBDC, DeFi and tokenization is rapidly accelerating, and my new role at Fireblocks allows me the privilege and opportunity to work alongside some of the most forward-thinking organizations in the world as they prepare for one of the sector’s greatest transformations,” said Paul.

Meanwhile, Adam Levine, Fireblocks’ head of corporate strategy, added: “From CBDC developments to the tokenization of traditional financial assets, bridging digital assets and blockchain technologies to traditional institutions at scale will require strong working relationships with the central bank community.”

The Bank of England has been in discussions over the past year around the creation of a UK-backed CBDC.

Fireblocks aims to be at the forefront of the emerging trend for CBDCs, by providing its infrastructure and technical know-how to central banks around the world, as the appetite for digital currencies continues to grow.

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