Former Chancellor Philip Hammond Named Chairman of Crypto Firm

Thursday, January 26, 2023 12:43 PM

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has been named chairman of digital asset platform Copper – a crypto company where he has been a senior adviser since 2021.

Lord Hammond of Runnymede, who served as Chancellor from 2016 to 2019, provided Copper.co with strategic advice while promoting its digital asset technology and publicly advocating the need to connect traditional finance with distributed ledger technology.

Over the past three years, the London-based company has grown from a workforce of 50 to over 300 and has doubled its turnover. Landmark deals with leading financial institutions have seen Copper become State Street Digital’s infrastructure partner, onboard leading hedge funds, and partner with several participants in the DeFi ecosystem.

“I have enjoyed working with Copper, a company that has pioneered the use of digital asset investment technology and is increasingly emerging as the primary option for global financial institutions to trade and protect their digital assets,” said Lord Hammond.

“Recent security and regulatory challenges affecting the digital asset industry have only underscored the need for a safe and well-regulated trading infrastructure. I remain a firm believer that the UK financial services industry post-Brexit must embrace distributed ledger technology as a key part of its strategy to remain a major global financial center.

“I look forward to continuing to advocate for realizing this potential as Chairman of Copper.”

Dmitry Tokarev, Managing Director of Copper, said it had been a privilege to benefit from Lord Hammond’s strategic expertise.

“I am delighted that he has agreed to become president of Copper,” he added.

“In addition to his guidance and experience for the benefit and betterment of Copper, his public advocacy regarding the importance of connecting traditional finance to distributed ledger technology comes at a time when it is needed more than ever. “