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Dive Brief: Discover Financial hired Alexandra Prodromos last week as the new blockchain and digital currency product manager, according to her LinkedIn profile. A spokesperson for the Riverwoods, Illinois company declined to comment on the employee cases, but Discover posted a job offer for the position earlier this year. Prodromos has made a name for himself in the Chicago area as a savvy professional on the subject of distributed ledger technology, the blockchain that underpins cryptocurrencies, and smart contracts and digital assets in general, including cryptocurrencies. She had been the executive director of the nonprofit Chicago Blockchain Center and helped inspire the Illinois Blockchain Initiative, according to a report from Crain’s Chicago Business. With the new hire, Discover was looking for a manager who would create a roadmap for developing new products in the area; improve the company’s capabilities in the field; conduct research to identify new payment products; and make recommendations to company management on these efforts, depending on the company’s announcement for the opening. Dive overview:
U.S. credit card companies are rushing to meet growing global demand for new digital payment products and ways to use cryptocurrencies in payment processes. The increased attention to distributed ledger technology and cryptocurrencies followed a jump last year in the value of the flagship denomination in the crypto sphere, Bitcoin. The currency has more than tripled in value over the past year, but has lost about half of its value since peaking at $ 64,863 on April 14, according to Yahoo Finance.
About 21 million Americans, or 14% of the population, own a cryptocurrency, according to crypto exchange firm Gemini. However, the trend for market volatility has led even crypto advocates, such as billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, to call for more regulation in the arena.
Prodromos has worked with officials in the state of Illinois on digital asset issues, according to Crain’s Chicago Businessprofile. She is therefore aware of the evolution of regulations and legislation in the industry. Given her involvement in various initiatives, conferences and organizations on digital assets since 2016, she is also well networked.
Discover spokesperson Jon Drummond even declined to confirm whether Prodromos had been hired, but said: “Regarding our strategic path in cryptocurrency, we weren’t ready to say too much to this topic, but we are closely monitoring the rapidly evolving market and related regulatory developments. We want to ensure that customers enjoy strong consumer protection as we move forward. “
With hundreds of different cryptocurrencies now involved in billions of dollars in transactions around the world, there is a strong incentive for card companies to intervene in the emerging crypto market. With China’s decision this year to create a central bank digital currency and other countries, including the United States, considering such a move, the stakes will rise further.
Visa has embraced the new asset over the past year, rolling out its own stablecoin pilot program using Ethereum cryptocurrency and outlining a number of strategies it plans to pursue in the arena, including including a partnership with Crypto.com to offer a prepaid card and allow payment. transactions in a digital currency using the USD Coin stablecoin. It is also partnering with Crypto.com, Bitpanda and Coinbase to enable cash payments of cryptocurrencies in fiat currencies.
Based on this long list of crypto milestones, it’s no surprise that Visa started early by hiring a vice president to lead crypto initiatives, CuySheffield, in 2019.
In the $ 3.6 trillion credit card market, Visa is by far the largest company and Discover is the fourth largest, with Mastercard and American Express more equal for the no. 2 and 3 places, respectively, according to Nilson Report figures for 2020.
An American Express spokesperson did not appoint a particular executive overseeing digital asset efforts, but said that “blockchain and digital currency responsibilities fall under a few areas of our business, including Amex Ventures, Digital Labs and Technologies “.
At Mastercard, Jess Turner is the head of new digital infrastructure and fintech, overseeing digital asset and blockchain issues, a company spokesperson said.
The potential advantage of crypto has made some banks that previously shun digital assets to reconsider their decision. Goldman Sachs relaunched its cryptocurrency trading desk in March, less than a year after the bank called Bitcoin an “unsuitable” investment for clients.
JPMorgan Chase last year extended banking services to crypto exchanges Coinbase and Gemini and this year unveiled its own digital token, JPMCoin less than three years after CEO Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin a “fraud.”
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