JPMorgan Lost These Three Execs To Crypto Firms This Week Despite ‘Crypto Winter’

JPMorgan Chase & Co., America’s largest bank, has witnessed the departure of three of its top executives this week. In what seems like a crucially planned exodus, the top executives of the investment bank have secured positions in different firms within the crypto space notwithstanding the current Crypto Winter that has taken a toll on certain entities.

Eric Wragge left for Algorand Foundation after 21 years at JPMorgan

The three execs all left on separate occasions in the space of one week. The latest to depart from JPMorgan is Eric Wragge, co-founder of Rochester Square who recently served as Managing Director in the bank. Wragge left JPMorgan after having worked in the bank for 21 years, securing several positions from April of 2000.

Wragge’s career path recently led him to the Algorand Foundation where he was appointed as Global Head of Business Development and Capital Markets. His appointment was announced on the official Algorand Foundation website on 5 July. 

Another employee to depart the bank is Puja Samuel who worked in the investment bank for three years as Head of Ideation and Digitisation. Samuel joined Connecticut-based venture capital company Digital Currency Group as Head of Corporate Development.

“I am excited to help build out new strategic partnerships alongside an energized team that is driving change across the financial system,” she said, further expressing gratitude to her former colleagues at JPMorgan for being part of her “professional journey.”

After 12 years working with the bank, Samir Shah is the third of the bunch to exit JPMorgan. Shah joined American hedge fund Pantera Capital as Chief Operating Officer. In his 12 years at JPMorgan, Shah secured several positions, the latest of which was Head of Asset Management Sales.

JPMorgan believes Bitcoin is undervalued 

Early last month, JPMorgan expressed a readiness to tokenize U.S. Treasuries or money market shares in an attempt to “bring these trillions of dollars of assets into DeFi.” Tyron Lobban, head of Onyx Digital Assets at the bank disclosed this.

Two months back, despite the bear market that sank the firstborn crypto, JPMorgan strategists led by Managing Director of Global Market Strategy at the bank, Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, mentioned that they believe Bitcoin is massively undervalued.

Sometime in May, the investment bank also issued a note to its clients, informing them of plans to replace real estate with crypto assets as a “preferred alternative asset class”. Recall that, in April, CEO Jamie Dimon and crypto critic who once termed Bitcoin “useless,” affirmed that blockchain and DeFi have valid use cases.