Joshua Barraclough moves from JP Morgan to crypto trading platform Bitpanda
European cryptocurrency trading platform Bitpanda has recruited Joshua Barraclough from JP Morgan as CEO for its crypto exchange, Bitpanda Pro.
Barraclough was global head of the fintech team and then co-head of digital innovation at JP Morgan.
Joshua Barraclough will head up the crypto exchange
The appointment comes a couple of months after the Austria-based company raised $263 million with a Series C round. Barraclough says the aim is to become the number one digital asset exchange in Europe.
That latest funding round, led by PayPal founder Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, valued the company at $4.1 billion.
As well as additional headcount, the company said it would use the fresh capital to expand to new markets in France, Spain, Italy and Portugal.
Bitpanda was founded as a bitcoin exchange in 2014. It has subsequently expanded beyond crypto to offer the trading of stocks, precious metals and exchange-traded funds. Investments can be as low as €1 and it claims low fees, 24/7 trading and real-time settlement.
Bitpanda Pro was launched in August 2019 and is used by traders and EU-based companies. Bitpanda has a 500+ team and offices in Vienna, Madrid, Berlin, Barcelona and London, with a tech hub in Krakow.
The fintech’s white-label solution allows established and new players to offer their customers access to digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, fractional stocks, ETFs and precious metals, as well as custody and wallet services.
The first taker of the white-label partner, announced earlier this month, is Italian open finance provider, Fabrick.
Bitpanda boasts three million users and claims to be on track to achieve a seven-fold increase in revenues in 2021 compared with last year.
