JPMorgan seeking hire to push banking products onto metaverse, crypto companies

THE BLOCKPubblicato 2022-09-11Pubblicato ultima volta 2022-09-11

Introduzione

JPMorgan is seeking a west coast business development specialist to push institutional payments products onto new crypto, web3 and metaverse clients.

Wall Street megabank JPMorgan is looking to expand its reach in the crypto market, seeking a new business development specialist in its payments group to target new clients across Web3, the metaverse, and crypto.

⠀

The bank — which has provided banking services for crypto exchange Coinbase — noted in a job advert on LinkedIn for a payments business development manager that the firm is keen to grow its business in merchant banking and treasury services "in the Web3, Crypto, Fintech, & Metaverse industry sub vertical."

⠀

The new hire would sit in the bank's technology, media, and telecom payments team on the West Coast.

⠀

As reported in 2020, JPMorgan took on Coinbase and Gemini as its first crypto exchange clients. More recently, the firm announced in February 2022 that it had opened up a branch in DCG-backed metaverse Decentraland.

⠀

Per the job description, the new hire would be responsible for lining up new corporate clients for a wide range of payment products, including transactional FX, liquidity and treasury services, and escrow.

⠀

"There is no industry playbook for these segments. This individual must be comfortable paving a path, creating frameworks, and working with extremely fast moving companies amongst ambiguity," the bank said. "These segments require increased technical knowledge around software that do not fit into the traditional training of front-office financial professionals."

⠀

Elsewhere, Wall Street heavyweight Citigroup was looking to hire a global head of digital asset risk management, signifying its own strategic push toward crypto services, as The Block reported in January. In August, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management was seeking a product development manager for the firm’s Investment Solutions Product Development team, which is responsible for supporting more than $900 billion in assets under management.

⠀

To be sure, such job ads don't necessarily mean banks are moving into new crypto opportunities at breakneck speed, as previously noted by Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley.

⠀

“Hiring a mid-level person to work on something like this doesn’t guarantee a product comes to market,” said Horsley.

Letture associate

From Power Infrastructure to Token Economy: The 'Seven-Layer Cake' of the AI Industry Chain

From Power Grid to Token Economy: The AI Industry's "Seven-Layer Cake" The AI industry is shifting from a "model-centric" paradigm focused on massive training to a "token-centric" industrial era driven by inference demand. This new phase revolves around the production, distribution, scheduling, and consumption of tokens—the units of computation used by AI agents for every interaction and task. The article proposes a "seven-layer cake" framework for the AI economy: 1. **Power**: The foundational energy source, with competition shifting to securing stable, low-cost electricity. 2. **AIDC (AI Data Centers)**: Large-scale "Token factories." A trend toward smaller, modular, and regionally deployed AI Factories is emerging for efficiency and proximity to users. 3. **GPU**: The core production hardware for tokens. While NVIDIA dominates, competition exists from AMD, ASIC makers, and Chinese chipmakers, with a growing focus on inference efficiency. 4. **LLMs**: The "engines" that generate tokens. The competition is evolving beyond model size to prioritize factors like token cost, inference efficiency, and operational synergy with infrastructure. 5. **Token Distribution**: The "grid" that allocates and rents out compute resources, led by cloud giants and specialized AI-native platforms. 6. **Token Optimization & Intelligent Scheduling**: The critical "brain" layer that intelligently routes tasks (e.g., to local, cloud, or edge models) for optimal cost, latency, and privacy—maximizing the value of each token. 7. **AI Agents & Models**: The end consumers of tokens. The vision involves billions of AI agents working and interacting concurrently, consuming vast amounts of tokens. Currently, the industry faces fragmentation and inefficiencies between these layers. The true "mass adoption era" of AI will begin only when this seven-layer infrastructure is fully integrated and operates as a cohesive, intelligent network—transforming AI from a software tool into a global industrial system spanning energy, hardware, and compute logistics.

marsbit12 min fa

From Power Infrastructure to Token Economy: The 'Seven-Layer Cake' of the AI Industry Chain

marsbit12 min fa

Semiconductors up 78% annually, software down 12% annually: The 'Liquidity Siphon' is playing out within tech stocks

Semiconductor ETFs like SOXX have surged 78.5% year-to-date, while software ETFs like IGV have dropped 12.5%, creating a record performance gap exceeding 90 percentage points. This reflects a major "liquidity suction" within tech stocks, with capital flooding into semiconductors as software faces selling pressure. Driving the semiconductor boom are staggering capital expenditure plans from hyperscalers like Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta, whose combined 2026 capex is projected near $700 billion. This fuels demand for chips, with companies like SanDisk (up 426%), Intel (up 222%), and Micron (up 154%) leading the S&P 500. In contrast, major software firms like Microsoft, Adobe, and Salesforce are all down over 17% year-to-date. The software sector faces a dual challenge: capital is being redirected to semiconductors, and the rise of AI agents like Claude Code threatens traditional SaaS business models, triggering a narrative of AI displacement. Key unanswered questions remain: How long can hyperscalers sustain their massive capex, given potential free cash flow pressures? And will capital eventually rotate back into the deeply oversold software sector? While some analysts warn of a potential semiconductor bubble akin to the dot-com era, the sector's powerful momentum continues, making market timing exceptionally difficult.

marsbit12 min fa

Semiconductors up 78% annually, software down 12% annually: The 'Liquidity Siphon' is playing out within tech stocks

marsbit12 min fa

What Are The 1% Cardano Investors Doing? Crypto Pundit Breaks It Down

Despite market volatility and Cardano's price dropping below $0.25, analysis reveals significant activity from the top 1% of ADA investors. Crypto pundit Cheeky Crypto notes that while retail investors capitulate, wealthy whales are aggressively accumulating ADA, likely anticipating overlooked institutional infrastructure developments. This coincides with strong network growth: Total Value Locked (TVL) has risen roughly 42% since mid-September 2025, and weekly DEX volume is up nearly 40%. Furthermore, the Cardano network recently achieved a new milestone, surpassing 121 million lifetime transactions, indicating sustained investor confidence and increasing network activity.

bitcoinist24 min fa

What Are The 1% Cardano Investors Doing? Crypto Pundit Breaks It Down

bitcoinist24 min fa

BTC Thrice Rejected at $80,000 Threshold, HYPE Reaches New Highs Signaling Opportunity | Guest Analysis

**Bitcoin (BTC) Struggles at $80k; HYPE Reaches New Highs | Key Analysis & Strategy** Bitcoin faces continued resistance in the $78.5k - $79.5k zone after failing to sustain a break above its daily chart rising channel. It has retreated to the channel's midline. A failure to hold here could see a test of the $73.5k - $75k support area. The 4-hour chart shows a complex corrective structure. The strategy is neutral for mid-term positions. For short-term trading, two scenarios are outlined: **A)** Selling on a failed rally into the $78.5k-$79.5k resistance, and **B)** Selling on a confirmed breakdown below the $73.5k-$75k support, both with tight risk management. Meanwhile, **HYPE** has posted consecutive highs. The 4-hour chart indicates its current uptrend may be weakening near $65, with models showing potential bearish divergence. The view is that a short-term top could be forming. The strategy advises against chasing the rally and instead looking for a potential long entry on a pullback to the $47.5 - $50 support zone, provided clear reversal signals appear. Last week, a disciplined short BTC trade based on model signals yielded a 2.78% profit. The article emphasizes that all analysis is for informational purposes only and not investment advice, highlighting the importance of strict stop-loss discipline and dynamic position management in a volatile market. *(Note: The text references proprietary models like the "Price Difference Trading Model" and "Momentum Quantification Model" for generating trade signals.)*

marsbit1 h fa

BTC Thrice Rejected at $80,000 Threshold, HYPE Reaches New Highs Signaling Opportunity | Guest Analysis

marsbit1 h fa

Tether's New Business: Helping Small Countries Issue Stablecoins

Tether has announced a partnership with the Georgian government to issue GEL₮, a Lari-pegged stablecoin, aiming to reduce costs, accelerate settlements, and promote cross-border payments. This move is part of Tether's broader strategy to establish a replicable, standardized business of issuing sovereign currency-backed stablecoins for smaller nations, alongside its flagship USDT and other regional offerings like MXNT (Mexican Peso) and CNHT (Offshore Yuan). Georgia represents an ideal test case due to its high reliance on remittances (~15% of GDP), established digital asset regulatory framework aligned with U.S. standards, and prior engagement with Tether. The country gains accelerated internationalization of its currency by accessing Tether's global distribution network and liquidity pools, where GEL₮ can be swapped directly with assets like USDT. For Tether, the immediate financial gain from Georgia's small market is minimal. The true value lies in creating a template. Successfully navigating the compliance, reserve, and redemption processes for GEL₮ allows Tether to replicate this model swiftly for other nations with similar profiles, such as Azerbaijan or Nigeria. The deeper strategy involves subtly integrating these national currencies into an informal USDT-anchored dollar system, positioning Tether as the essential routing infrastructure. This partnership highlights a potential new model: the outsourcing of sovereign currency globalization to private stablecoin issuers. It offers smaller states a faster path to digital currency integration than developing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). However, it raises significant questions about monetary sovereignty, financial stability risks, and increased dependency on a private entity. If more countries adopt this model in the coming year, Tether could evolve from a stablecoin issuer into a unique, cross-sovereign financial infrastructure service provider.

marsbit1 h fa

Tether's New Business: Helping Small Countries Issue Stablecoins

marsbit1 h fa

Trading

Spot

Futures