It’s wild out there’: crypto firms lure top bankers in price boom

It’s wild out there’: crypto firms lure top bankers in price boom

Huge gains in digital asset values are helping crypto firms to poach previously out-of-reach executives from some of the biggest companies in mainstream finance.

Among high profile executives switching from traditional finance careers to crypto companies: Coinbase announced it had hired a top Goldman Sachs lobbyist, while John Dalby, chief financial officer of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater, is also joining crypto financial services group NYDIG.

Crypto exchange FTX this month hired Brett Harrison as president of its US business. He was formerly a senior technology executive at Wall Street firm Citadel Securities and spent most of his career developing the algorithmic trading system for market maker Jane Street.

The pace of finance talent moving into crypto jobs has picked up sharply, according to recruiters and industry insiders, alongside the surge in activity in digital assets. The migration, which ranges from top executives to recent graduates, echoes a string of job moves by traders and bankers during the crypto boom that came to an end after 2017. 

"There's been a tectonic change in the last few months“ in the hiring dynamic, said Edouard Hindi, partner at crypto hedge fund Tyr Capital, which now receives a couple of unsolicited emails a week from strong