Varun Paul, the Bank of England’s Head of the Fintech Hub, left the organisation after more than 13 years of service. He’ll be working for Fireblocks, a bitcoin security firm.
Paul announced his departure from the Bank of England in a recent LinkedIn post after more than a decade of service. He called his departure a “emotional day,” adding that he had enjoyed his time at the financial institution:
“I’ve enjoyed my time here because of the wonderful people I’ve met and the varied and really satisfying work I’ve done.” And because I’ve been given the freedom to push forward on issues that I’m passionate about.”
Paul worked at the Bank of England as the Head of the Fintech Hub. Paul’s choice to leave the Bank of England and join a crypto startup is noteworthy because the central bank is one of the most vocal critics of the digital asset market.
Fireblocks, along with Spark Capital, Mammoth, General Atlantic, and other investors, launched a $550 million Series E fundraising round for Fireblocks earlier this year. The financing increased the company’s value to $8 billion. Shortly after, Fireblocks paid around $100 million for the Israeli crypto payments provider, First Digital. The latter is a company that offers institutional clients stablecoin-based API-based settlement solutions.
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