Barclays’ Former Traders Say They’re Working On A Crypto Trading Desk, Bank Denies It

Matthieu Jobbe Duval, the former director of oil options trading at Barclays, and Chris Tyrer, former head of energy trading at Barclays, claim in their LinkedIn profiles that they’re managing the development of a “digital asset” platform for the multinational investment bank, according to Business Insider.

Tyrer’s LinkedIn profile states that he’s the head of a digital assets project at Barclays, while Duval say he’s a digital assets trading consultant for the bank.

“Hired To Create A Crypto Business Plan”

Duval had also mentioned in his LinkedIn profile that Barclays had:

Hired him to produce a business plan for integrating a digital assets trading desk into [the bank’s]markets business revenue opportunity, competitive landscape, budgeting and planning for delivery, I.T. buildout, capital & balance sheet impact.

However, after Business Insider reportedly contacted Barclays regarding their “digital assets project”, Duval removed the details of the crypto business plan from his LinkedIn profile. Also, when BI asked Duval to provide more information, he only confirmed that the statements in his profile were “accurate” but refused to comment further.

Tyrer declined to comment as well and has not removed anything from his LinkedIn profile. His profile still says that he has been working as Managing Director for Barclays‘ digital assets project.

No Plans To Launch Crypto-Trading Desk

Meanwhile, a Barclays representative said that both Tyrer and Duval had been employees of the bank, but the financial institution was not planning to provide crypto-trading services or working on any such digital assets project.

In April, there were reports of Barclays asking its customers if they were planning on trading cryptocurrencies. The bank had also said it was monitoring the crypto market closely to meet the needs of its clients, but had no plans to launch a cryptocurrency trading desk.

While Barclays may or may not have any crypto-related projects in the pipeline, a number of other major banks are reportedly either considering or intend to provide crypto trading services to their clients.

Goldman Sachs revealed in December 2017 that it was planning to launch a digital currency trading desk. This, despite its recent economic-outlook report stating that cryptocurrencies “will not retain value.”

JP Morgan, the largest bank in the United States, also appears to be taking crypto more seriously after its CEO Jamie Dimon had previously called bitcoin a “fraud.” The world’s most valuable bank in terms of market capitalization recently appointed 29-year-old Oliver Harris as head of its new crypto-assets strategy.

Featured Image Credit: “Barclays” by “Håkan Dahlström Photography” via Flickr; licensed under: “CC BY 2.0”