Copper Progresses Plans For Crypto Prime Brokerage Offering With Key Hires From Bank of America

April 11, 2022 - Crypto custodian Copper has hired a team of 5 from Bank of America to build out its crypto prime brokerage product, with the team being lead by Michael Roberts, as Head of Prime. Roberts had over 16 years experience in Prime Services with the bank, latterly as a managing director and as EMEA Head of Prime Brokerage Account Management.

Michael Roberts, Head of Prime, Copper.co

Michael Roberts, Head of Prime, Copper.co commented, “I have watched Copper from afar for some years now and been continuously impressed at the speed and quality of the solutions they bring to market. Boris and the team understand the technology institutional investors want and need to pursue crypto strategies. I thoroughly look forward to being on board and combining our collective experience as Copper embarks upon its next phase of growth.”

Roberts will be joined by former BAML directors Adam Groom and Paul Barham, who most recently led relationship management and product development, respectively, for BAML’s prime platform in EMEA. Supporting this senior team are Ben Carr and Ross Budgen, who add expertise in product development, account management and analytics. Together, they have more than 45 years’ experience in prime services.

Reporting to Boris Bohrer-Bilowitzki, Chief Revenue Officer at Copper, the five will work with Copper’s existing team to accelerate the expansion of prime infrastructure; in terms of custody, collateral management and hedging services, as more prime brokers join the Copper ecosystem and its proprietary ClearLoop network.

Copper launched ClearLoop in 2020 to ensure institutional investors could trade with crypto exchanges efficiently and securely. By removing the need to transfer digital assets onto an exchange before being able to trade, ClearLoop minimises counterparty risks and reduces withdrawal time. Later in 2020, Copper expanded its ClearLoop network to include collateral management for crypto derivatives. With this added functionality, Copper acts as an independent third party for collateral management and settlement.

This is the latest expansion of Copper’s rapidly growing team. They follow just a month after Copper announced two C-suite level hires in London: former Citi executive Sabrina Wilson joined as Chief Operating Officer and Carly Nuzbach-Lowery as Chief Legal Officer.

Boris Bohrer-Bilowitzki, Chief Revenue Officer at Copper.co, commented, “Since the inception of Copper, we have been committed to exceeding market expectations of the gold standard in crypto-asset custody and trading. Part of that commitment means securing top-tier talent to ensure we remain at the forefront. I have no doubt that Mike, Adam, Paul, Ben and Ross will fit seamlessly into the team as we push the boundaries of possibility within the Copper ecosystem and continue to develop infrastructure to empower prime brokers with the infrastructure they need. I look forward to working with each of them tremendously.”

Last month, State Street announced that State Street Digital, the firm’s dedicated Digital division, entered into a licensing agreement with Copper.co to leverage Copper.co’s technology to develop and launch an institutional grade digital custody offering where clients can store and settle their digital assets within a secure environment operated by State Street.

Founded in 2018, Copper provides a gateway into the crypto asset space for institutional investors by offering custody, trading, and settlement solutions across 450 crypto-assets and more than 45 exchanges. It is committed to providing flexible solutions for institutional investors that can adapt to the changing crypto asset space, while enabling far greater transparency and control for asset managers.

Copper’s fully integrated products are unique in the crypto-asset space. Underpinned by multi-award-winning custody, Copper has built the most comprehensive and secure suite of tools and services required to safely acquire, trade, and store cryptocurrencies.

At the core of Copper’s infrastructure is ClearLoop, a framework that connects the universe of exchanges in one secure trading loop — with real-time settlement across multiple networks. Integrated with market leading spot and derivative crypto exchanges, ClearLoop has already transformed the way in which institutional investors can engage in the crypto asset space since it was launched in May 2020.