Former Celsius exec joins JPMorgan as Crypto Regulatory Policy Head

Key Takeaways:

• Aaron Iovine, a former Celsius executive, is now the executive director of regulatory policy for digital assets at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

• Ovine oversaw policy and regulatory matters at the defunct cryptocurrency lender Celsius.

Aaron Iovine, a veteran Celsius Network executive, has joined JPMorgan Chase as executive director of digital assets regulatory policy, as per his LinkedIn profile.

In July, Celsius declared bankruptcy as assets, such as bitcoin, were decimated by monetary policy tightening.

Given the erratic market conditions in recent months, which included a decline in cryptocurrency values and the insolvency of numerous companies, the world’s largest investment banking organisation wants to broaden the supervisory context for digital assets.

According to reports, he will cooperate with JPMorgan’s regulatory affairs team, which is led by Sharon Yang, a former deputy assistant secretary for global financial markets at the Treasury Department.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, is well recognised for his contempt for cryptocurrencies; most recently, he called cryptocurrency tokens “decentralised Ponzis.” And besides, he did praise blockchain technology, highlighting some of its “real” aspects and citing the Onyx platform for wholesale payments from JPMorgan as an example.

Iovine led policy and regulatory affairs at digital asset-friendly regional lender Cross River for nearly three years before joining Celcius.

In 2015, he started working in law as a legal and regulatory intern at The Clearing House, a payments and banking association. In 2018, he began working as a senior regulatory analyst for the New York-based law firm White & Case LLP after completing an internship at the trade group for broker-dealers SIFMA.

The corporate and investment bank of JPMorgan also published an opening for a digital assets counsel position earlier this month. The successful candidate would be in charge of various responsibilities, including providing guidance on regulatory and compliance matters, daily business support, and documentation issues pertaining to the bank’s digital assets initiatives.