Investment bank Morgan Stanley has appointed a new head to lead its digital asset markets.
Andrew Peel, formerly vice president of sales and trading innovation at Credit Suisse, came on board at Morgan Stanley in June – according to his Linkedin profile – with the bank confirming his appointment this morning to Business Insider.
Previously at Credit Suisse for 12 years where he worked as a derivatives trader and was a “subject matter expert for bitcoin and cryptocurrency,” Peel will reportedly be running the new operation out of London and Zurich.
With Peel saying he’s been advocating for cryptocurrency markets since the relatively early days of 2013, the appointment will encourage investors who have been looking for signs of increasing institutional friendliness towards crypto markets.
Banks Getting Involved
With Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman in January voicing his opinion that bitcoin was here to stay, this latest move from the leading investment bank comes at a time when institutional heavyweights are increasingly interested in the crypto and blockchain economy.
Goldman Sachs too, considered by many to be leader of the Wall Street pack, has also seen some developments that look promising for the crypto world – with the appointment of David Solomon, a relatively pro-crypto CEO in July, who previously remarked that the bank:
…are clearing some futures around bitcoin, talking about doing some other activities there, but it’s going very cautiously. We’re listening to our clients and trying to help our clients as they’re exploring those things too.
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