Former Credit Suisse crypto expert joins Morgan Stanley

Investment banking giant Morgan Stanley has hired former Credit Suisse crypto expert Andrew Peel as its head of digital asset markets, Finance Magnates reported referring to Peel’s LinkedIn profile.

Peel, who has been advocating on cryptocurrency markets since 2013, will bring his extensive experience to the firm. He will be based in Zurich and London.

He joined Morgan Stanley in June 2018 after a 12-year stint at Credit Suisse, where he most recently served as the Vice President of sales and trading innovation. He was the trading subject matter expert for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, along with other responsibilities such as client coverage and internal presentations.

The hiring follows recent reports that suggested that Morgan Stanley was looking to add cryptocurrencies to its trading desk. In a report dated April 30, 2018, The ICO Journal stated that a working group at the bank was planning to create a specific trade desk targeting institutional crypto trades, arbitrage and ICOs. A source familiar with the ongoing developments told the news outlet:

“Several of us have been reaching out to what we would call ‘mid-tier’ money managers that we know are on the cusp of opening crypto focused hedge funds. We have done some work with pure-play crypto funds as well, but we’ve been more specifically tasked to engage with firms that are apt to add to their current portfolios as opposed to starting from scratch. I can’t tell you who those are, as we are under NDA’s with several, but you can bet that things are moving quickly and deals are being struck. And you can guess why.”

Earlier in April, Goldman Sachs hired Justin Schmidt as the first head of digital asset markets. More recently, Forbes reported that Northern Trust is working with three “mainstream hedge funds” that are diversifying their portfolios with cryptocurrency investments.