Riot Blockchain Inc, a Bitcoin infrastructure firm, has hired Jason Chung from Nomura Holdings to serve as its head of corporate development. 

Chung Joins the Crypto Industry, Follows the Trails of Other Top Bankers 

Until recently, Chung was based in Hong Kong, where he served as the managing director at Nomura Bank. Now, he has joined Castle Rock, the Colorado-based Riot Blockchain, where he will help with finance-related strategies. 

The former banker is known for his work on acquisitions and mergers at the Japanese-based Nomura bank since 2014. Before joining Riot Blockchain, Chung worked for eight years with Societe Generale SA, before moving to New York and then Hong Kong, according to his LinkedIn Profile. 

Shares of Riot Blockchain have shot down by about 68% in 2022 because of the recent down trend of Bitcoin prices. The overall market value of the company is USD913 million. 

The move by Chung is tracking the trails of other investment bankers and lawyers leaving Wall Street for the crypto companies. In February, Vishal Sacheedran, a former banker at New York Mellon Corp, was tapped by Binance Holdings Ltd. He is now the director of the exchange’s Africa and the Middle East unit. 

After serving close to ten years as an M&A Attorney, Robbie Nakarmi also shifted to Binance Holdings Ltd, where he is serving as the lead counsel in Dubai. 

Another notable departure was Citigroup’s Inc. ‘s Leed Smallwood, who served as the Chief Operating Officer for markets in North America. Smallwood left after about six years with Citigroup and joined Hivemind Capital Partners, a crypto investment firm that Matt Zhang, also a former city executive, founded.