Bank of England’s fintech chief leaves to join Fireblocks

The Bank of England’s head of fintech Varun Paul has announced he is leaving the central bank and moving into the digital asset space by joining Fireblocks in an unspecified role.

Varun Paul has been at the central bank for 16 years

Fireblocks is a digital asset custody, transfer and settlement platform. Following a $550 million Series E funding round earlier this year, the firm is worth $8 billion and is the highest-valued digital asset infrastructure provider in the world.

“Today was an emotional day! 16 years after starting my first internship and more than 13 years after starting as a graduate, today I’ve parted ways with the Bank of England,” Paul says in a LinkedIn post announcing the move.

While Paul has been at the central bank for 16 years, he has only been in his most recent role as head of the fintech hub for just over a year.

Prior to this, Paul worked a number of roles ranging from senior manager, future of finance to senior economist, financial stability.

Paul’s pivot to the private sector comes after the Bank of England, with the HM Treasury, set up a CBDC Taskforce last April with a view to launching a consultation this year that would assess the case for a UK CBDC.

However, the House of Lords produced a report in January that suggested the case for a digital pound was “weak”. The Economic Affairs Committee, made up of lords and baronesses, cited concerns over financial stability, surveillance and data protection, determining that a UK CBDC is a “solution in search of a problem”.