Copper appoints former chancellor Philip Hammond as chair

Hammond is an advocate for the UK as a global leader in digital asset technology. He supports the case to connect traditional finance with distributed ledger technology and reforming the UK’s regulatory framework governing digital assets

Digital asset technology firm Copper has appointed former UK chancellor Lord Philip Hammond as chair.  

Hammond has worked at the firm as a senior adviser since 2021, providing advice as the firm grew from 50 to 300 people, doubled revenues and expanded globally, the firm said in a statement. 

During this time, Copper partnered with State Street Digital, onboarded hedge funds and worked with participants in the decentralised finance sector.  

The firm’s leading product is its exchange network ClearLoop, which enables clients to trade and settle in near real time across multiple exchanges, while mitigating counterparty risk and increasing capital efficiency.  

Hammond is an advocate for the UK as a global leader in digital asset technology. He supports the case to connect traditional finance with distributed ledger technology and reforming the UK’s regulatory framework governing digital assets.  

Lord Philip Hammond

On his new role and the digital asset sector, Hammond said: “Recent security and regulatory challenges affecting the digital asset sector have only served to emphasise the need for safe, well-regulated trading infrastructure. 

“I remain firmly of the view that the post-Brexit UK financial services sector needs to embrace distributed ledger technology as a key part of its strategy to remain a major global financial centre.” 

Hammond had a career in British politics as a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2019, serving as chancellor from 2016-2019.  

On his appointment, Dmitry Tokarev, chief executive officer at Copper, commented: “It has been an outstanding privilege to benefit from Lord Hammond’s strategic expertise forged by his successful career in politics and business.” 

This news comes as scrutiny of many cryptocurrencies increases. 

The Dutch central bank fined cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase €3.3m, authorities seized cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato and arrested its co-founder for processing £567m in illicit funds, and Sam Bankman-Fried and his company, FTX, are still under investigation after its meltdown last November. 

Image: Copper 

Josh Poyser Josh Poyser is an editor at FinTech Intel. He has written about fintech for several years and appeared at FinTech Connect 2023 on the 'Unlocking Success: The Art of Fintech PR' panel.