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Ex-Saxo Bank Hong Kong CEO Matt Long Joins Crypto Firm OSL

Ex-Saxo Bank Hong Kong CEO Matt Long Joins Crypto Firm OSL

(Bloomberg) -- Saxo Bank Hong Kong’s former top executive is joining OSL, one of Asia’s biggest digital asset platforms for professional investors.

Matt Long, who until recently was the Danish bank’s Hong Kong CEO, will head OSL’s distribution activities, including institutional and white-label sales and its prime brokerage business, OSL said in a statement today.

Long joins the growing list of bankers and investors from traditional financial companies that have made the jump to the crypto industry. Major coins have rallied this year as fears of the spreading coronavirus rocked markets around the world. Bitcoin is now trading above $9,500, at its highest levels since late October. And products like options on Bitcoin futures show signs of boosting institutional interest in the asset class.

Ex-Saxo Bank Hong Kong CEO Matt Long Joins Crypto Firm OSL

OSL, a unit of Hong Kong-based BC Group, is a digital-asset platform offering things like exchange and custody services, and software solutions for institutional clients. The digital asset arm posted 41.6 million yuan ($6 million) in revenue for 2019’s first half, or about half of the group’s total revenue for this period, according to BC Group’s interim report.

Long joined Saxo Bank in December 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile, which shows that prior to Saxo he held senior posts at investment banks including Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. and Macquarie Group Ltd.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zheping Huang in Hong Kong at zhuang245@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edwin Chan at echan273@bloomberg.net, Joanna Ossinger, Colum Murphy

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