Avanti Financial Group is hiring its C-suite, including Bitcoin Core developer

Avanti Financial Group, one of the first US
cryptocurrency banks, has announced that it is now hiring its C-suite. The
Wyoming based firm revealed five new executive hires this Tuesday, one of which
is Bryan Bishop — a well-known Bitcoin Core developer — while another is Figure
Technology’s Zev Shimko.

Avanti’s CEO, Caitlin Long, commented on the move by saying that the company wanted to find people with enough experience in traditional finances, but also in the crypto sector. The two are quite different in many aspects, which made it difficult to find experienced innovators.

This is why the bank turned to Bishop, who will be the firm’s chief technology officer. Back in 2018, he acted as a senior blockchain engineer and custody architect at LedgerX, which was the first options exchange and clearinghouse for digital assets that was regulated by the CFTC.

In addition to that, he also created a pre-signed anti-theft recovery for Bitcoin, known today as Bitcoin Vaults. Long said that, for everybody, crypto custody is a given core skill set, and the fact that Bishop has done this in the past, at LedgerX, makes him a member of a very small group of people that have experience with creating secure custody platforms that have survived attacks and similar challenges.

Who else will join the bank?

Another big name among those hired by the
company is Britney Reddy, a community banking veteran who will act as the
bank’s Chief of Banking Operations, as well as the CFO. Reddy was previously
acting as a high ranking official at multiple banks across Wyoming.

As mentioned, Zev Shimko will also join as the
COO. Previously, he worked as a director at Figure, and before that, he was
SALT’s Head of Corporate Development. However, he originally started out as an
employee at Morgan Stanley, working in global capital markets.

The company will also be joined by LedgerX’s CCO and former CEO of Blockchain Consulting, Chuck Thompson, who will take up the role of Chief Legal Officer, who also had a role at Morgan Stanley and other firms, working as an in-house counsel.

Avanti also recently announced a partnership with Blockstream — a blockchain technology startup that will help provide payment, securities, custody, and commodities activities for institutions willing to use cryptocurrencies. The bank will be launched in early 2021 according to the current schedule, provided that it gets all the necessary approvals.