JPMorgan recruits executive of bankrupt Celsius crypto firm to be its digital asset policy director

JPMorgan hired a former executive of the bankrupt Celsius Network LLC cryptocurrency lending company to become its digital assets regulatory policy director. The investment banking company appointed Aaron Iovine as the head of its newly created role.

As per CoinDesk, Iovine worked at Celsius for almost eight months - from February to September this year - as the leader of its policy and regulatory affairs. JPMorgan created the new job post to reach its goal of expanding its digital asset regulatory despite the strained market conditions in recent months wherein the values of cryptocurrencies are also dropping, with some companies even going bankrupt.

Apparently, Iovine himself came from one of these crypto firms that collapsed amid the declining value of crypto. It was in July when Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Aaron Iovine reportedly joined JPMorgan this week, and this was confirmed by the company’s spokeswoman. Moreover, it was revealed that the investment bank and financial services holding company is also looking for a digital assets counsel, and this role is still open as of this time. The counsel will be working at the company’s corporate head office in New York.

Iovine is expected to work with the bank’s regulatory affairs team, where Sharon Yang is a managing director and head of global regulatory affairs. Before she joined JPMorgan Chase, she served as a deputy assistant secretary for international financial markets at the U.S. Department of Treasury.

In any case, Iovine left Celsius two months after it filed for bankruptcy in New York. The Chapter 11 filing brought about huge legal bills already. Based on the court documents, Kirkland & Ellis law firm received at least $3.5 million in retainer payments. The case is far from over, so the fees are expected to balloon further.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg Law reported that JPMorgan’s move to hire regulatory policy leaders is part of its effort to build out its policy ranks in the ever-changing digital asset business space. The increased regulatory scrutiny in companies is another reason for the creation of the role that will not be headed by Aaron Iovine in the firm.