Copper appoints Former Chancellor Philip Hammond as Chair

Lord Hammond, who takes up this role with immediate effect, has served as a Senior Adviser to Copper since October 2021

January 26, 2023 - Copper.co, a provider of institutional digital asset custody and trading solutions, announced the appointment of Lord (Philip) Hammond of Runnymede, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, as Chair. 

During this time, he has provided strategic advice to the Copper team as the firm has grown and expanded its operations and services globally.

Lord Hammond has been promoting the UK as a global leader in digital asset technology and publicly making the case for the need to connect traditional finance with distributed ledger technology and reforming the UK’s regulatory framework governing digital assets.

In the time since Lord Hammond joined Copper as Senior Adviser, the firm has grown from 50 to over 300 people, doubling revenues. 

During this period the company has also focused on their exchange network ClearLoop which enables institutional clients to trade on multiple digital asset exchanges while keeping funds in secure custody to mitigate counterparty risk.

Dmitry Tokarev, Chief Executive Officer, Copper, said: “It has been an outstanding privilege to benefit from Lord Hammond’s strategic expertise forged by his successful career in politics and business. I am thrilled he has agreed to become Chair of Copper. In addition to his guidance and experience benefiting and enhancing Copper, his public advocacy relating to the importance of connecting traditional finance with distributed ledger technology comes at a time when it is needed more than ever.”

Lord Hammond, Chairman, Copper, said: “I have greatly enjoyed working with Copper, a company that has pioneered the use of digital asset investment technology and which is increasingly emerging as the leading option for global financial institutions to trade and safeguard their digital assets.

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 stategy to remain a major global financial centre. I look forward to continuing to make the case for this potential to be realised as Chairman of Copper.”

Speaking in an interview with the FT, Lord Hammond also stated that he would ensure “robust governance” of Copper through the recruitment of experienced personnel with a view to ensuring that Copper is “best governed, most secure player in this space”.