Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_6324da90fccd9" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Blockchain analytics provider names chief legal officer</li>
 <li>Creator of crypto-focused team at US Department of Justice is reportedly leaving his post</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



PolySign subsidiary MG Stover recently appointed several executives to meet the growing demand for its digital asset services. The fund administration firm services hedge funds, private equity funds and venture capital funds.



The hires included <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/keepingitpc/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Patrick Clancy</a> as head of digital asset strategy; <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennybroom/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kenny Broom</a> as director of venture capital; <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ray-kamrath-67560111/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ray Kamrath</a> as chief revenue officer; <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nik-rowlston-14a92a28/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nik Rowlston</a> as head of fund services for Canada; and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-wolf-3665a513/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brian Wolf</a> as senior vice president of people and culture. 



Clancy and Broom both previously worked at consulting firm Armanino. Clancy was a managing director of digital assets, while Broom was a senior manager who performed financial statement audits of digital asset funds.



Kamrath was most recently Amber Group’s head of institutional prime services and also previously was in foreign exchange trading roles at Jefferies and Goldman Sachs.



Rowlston, who joined the firm to build a team of accountants and investor services professionals in Halifax, was formerly a managing director of fund administration at SS&amp;C.



Wolf comes from Mediaocean, where he was also a senior vice president of people and culture and has worked at Kraken and Northern Trust.



Blockchain analytics provider Elliptic, meanwhile, tapped <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-melican-91b613a3/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">John Melican</a> as its new chief legal officer after the executive had joined the firm in January as chief of external affairs. 



Melican has led teams focused on anti-money laundering, sanctions and anti-corruption compliance at financial institutions, most recently overseeing global financial crimes consulting at Exiger. He has also led compliance functions at American Express, Bear Stearns and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.



Earlier in his career, Melican was an assistant district attorney in New York focused on money laundering and other financial crimes prosecutions. He also spent time as trial counsel for the New York Stock Exchange.



“The crypto analytics tools that are used in this industry to implement effective and efficient compliance programs, as well as the tools used by governments to regulate and investigate the industry, are essential for ensuring that crypto is a mature and well-regulated part of the global financial system,” Melican said in a statement.



Toposware, the lead developer of open interoperability protocol Topos, recently created its Technology Advisory Council to boost expertise in distributed systems, cryptoeconomics and business.



The first advisers of the unit are <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fraovj%2F&amp;esheet=52856456&amp;newsitemid=20220907005047&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Vijay+Rao&amp;index=2&amp;md5=fcd2988318b1b39d8ddc247796cbe729" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vijay Rao</a>, director of infrastructure at Meta, and <a href="https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fsara-tucci-piergiovanni-1582672%2F%3ForiginalSubdomain%3Dfr&amp;esheet=52856456&amp;newsitemid=20220907005047&amp;lan=en-US&amp;anchor=Sara+Tucci-Piergiovanni&amp;index=3&amp;md5=3bc0f2a9ba3e50fd8ae7c46ba11e5b73" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sara Tucci-Piergiovanni</a>, the head of laboratory and a senior research engineer at CEA List at Paris-Saclay University.



“Blockchain interoperability is a feature increasingly important to make the vision of the future Internet a reality, but it is still a big challenge to address,” Tucci-Piergiovanni said in a statement. “Toposware is working today on very promising ideas, always grounded on solid research, to make inter-chain interactions scalable and secure.”



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-mcquaid-b0977a4a/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nicholas McQuaid</a>, a principal deputy assistant attorney general for the US Department of Justice’s criminal division, is leaving his post, <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/justice-departments-criminal-division-deputy-mcquaid-departing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg reported</a>.



McQuaid created and led a team dedicated to investigating and prosecuting crypto-related schemes at the government agency, the outlet reported.&nbsp;



He worked at the White House from April 2013 to January 2017 as a deputy counsel and deputy assistant to the president, according to his LinkedIn profile. He had spent the next few years as a partner at law firm Latham &amp; Watkins.



It is unclear where McQuaid is headed. He did not immediately return a request for comment.



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Latest in Crypto Hiring: Fund Admin Firm Adds Execs To Expand Digital Asset Services

<div id="highlights-block_62ba247b75669" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>PolySign plans to launch settlement layer PolyNet in the first quarter of 2023</li>
 <li>The funding round follows the company’s raise of $53 million in May 2021</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Blockchain infrastructure provider <a href="https://polysign.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PolySign</a> has raised an additional $53 million as it seeks to eventually offer instant and automatic settlements for a range of cryptoassets.



Participants in the round included hedge fund Brevan Howard, crypto market maker GSR and Cowen Digital. The latter business, which financial services firm Cowen <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/financial-firm-cowen-unveils-digital-assets-unit/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched in March</a>, offers custody solutions via Cowen’s partnership with PolySign subsidiary Standard Custody and Trust Company.



The capital was primarily used for the acquisition of fund administrator MG Stover, which the firm revealed in April. The purchase of the company, which had $40 billion in digital assets under administration at the time, accelerates the company’s product development service enhancements for institutional investors and asset managers, PolySign said in a statement.



PolySign CEO Jack McDonald told Blockworks the Series C round funding would also enable the company to add engineers, accountants and client service teams, as well as accelerate its technology spend.



In the short term, PolySign seeks to continue focusing on its custody offerings through Standard Custody and Trust Company as well as its fund administration business through MG Stover. Its third core product, McDonald said, is PolyNet, a settlement layer that would offer instant and automatic settlement for a range of assets. PolySign expects to launch the latter offering in the first quarter of next year.



PolySign has also secured a $25 million credit facility with Boathouse Capital, it said Tuesday.



Emphasizing the importance of institutional investors in the digital asset space, McDonald said in a statement, “A better platform for custody and fund administration is necessary to serve their unique needs and help expand the market.”



The funding round follows PolySign’s raise of $53 million in May 2021. Cowen led that Series B round with a $25 million strategic investment and was joined by Blockchain.com, Race Capital, Sandia Holdings and PilotRock Investments.



McDonald declined to comment on PolySign’s valuations after each round, but according to private-markets data provider Pitchbook, the latest raise pushed the firm’s valuation over $500 million.



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PolySign Nets $53M To Improve Services for Institutions, Asset Managers

<div id="highlights-block_623b365b4e8c8" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Cowen’s hundreds of institutional clients could present a ‘captive audience’ for its digital-assets services</li>
 <li>The firm’s investment management unit had around $16 billion under management at the end of 2021</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Financial services firm Cowen has launched a digital-asset division as it seeks to lead US banks in the growing segment.



Called Cowen Digital, the Connecticut-based unit offers cryptocurrency trading for institutional investors, as well as custody solutions via Cowen’s partnership with PolySign’s Standard Custody and Trust Company.&nbsp;



“Cowen Digital’s team has had calls with hundreds of potential clients including crypto-native firms, asset allocators, and multi-strategy hedge funds looking to participate in the space,” a spokesperson at the bank told Blockworks.



Cowen <a href="https://www.cowen.com/news/cowen-and-polysign-to-launch-strategic-partnership-geared-toward-providing-clients-access-to-cryptocurrency-and-digital-assets/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">partnered with PolySign</a> last May to offer its clients easier access to crypto. Dan Charney, co-president of the bank, said in a statement Wednesday that Cowen Digital has been trading crypto on behalf of its clients for several months.



The division is currently trading 16 cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ether, chainlink, uniswap, polygon and decentraland, according to a representative.



Cowen Digital will seek to offer financing solutions, derivatives and futures in the future, the company announced, as well as “institutional DeFi and NFT access.”



New York-based <a href="https://www.cowen.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cowen</a> operates as a broker dealer and an investment manager. Its broker dealer division offers investment banking services, equity and credit research, sales and trading and prime brokerage, as well as global clearing and commission management services.&nbsp;



The investment management unit provides actively managed alternative investment products. Cowen reported having $15.8 billion in assets under management, as of Dec. 31.



Drew Forman, who has worked as a managing director and head of equity derivatives for the company, will lead Cowen Digital.&nbsp;



“Cowan has quite a large custody and clearing business, so that means they have hundreds if not thousands of institutional clients that trade through them,” an institutional crypto trading source told Blockworks. “It’s a captive audience and it’s very early. Zero banks offer this.”



Some of the largest Wall Street banks have so far only dabbled in crypto as regulation in the US <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bidens-crypto-executive-order-may-be-watershed-moment-despite-lack-of-specifics/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has yet to take shape</a>.



Goldman Sachs recently added to the types of crypto products it trades. Galaxy Digital Holdings <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/goldman-sachs-makes-milestone-crypto-trade-with-galaxy-digital/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced Monday</a> that it facilitated its first over-the-counter crypto transaction with Goldman in the form of a bitcoin non-deliverable option.



Ben McMillan, founder and chief investment officer of IDX Digital Assets, said that the move by Goldman is likely to spur other banks to follow suit.



For a bank to launch a digital assets division takes “a huge amount of coordination,” a Cowen spokesperson said, noting that the company spent more than a year establishing the unit.



“Cowen’s organizational structure and in-built entrepreneurial culture means that it can be more nimble when it comes to entering innovative markets like digital assets,” the representative said.



About 40 people across the firm helped establish the unit, and the company intends to grow Cowen Digital to include more than 100 people in the near term.



Cowen Digital is currently able to trade in 35 states and plans to expand globally, a spokesperson noted. It has applied for a BitLicense to operate in New York and is awaiting a response from regulators.



Michael Bodley contributed to this story.



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