Amber Baldet Leaving JPMorgan Blockchain Team to Start New Venture

JPMorgan Chase's blockchain lead is leaving the bank to launch her own venture.

Amber Baldet, who oversaw development of JPMorgan's permissioned blockchain platform, Quorum, is leaving the financial institution, according to an internal memo sent Monday by the bank's head of blockchain initiatives, Umar Farooq.

Baldet, one of CoinDesk's Most Influential in Blockchain in 2017, headed up JPMorgan's Blockchain Center of Excellence since its inception in 2015. She oversaw partnerships with the company behind zcash, with the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts and with the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.

Christine Moy, a senior product manager with the center, will take over Baldet's position, according to the memo, a copy of which was obtained by CoinDesk. Moy worked with Baldet and the center from the start and has been leading blockchain product development across JPMorgan's investor services and capital markets businesses, Farooq wrote.

A JPMorgan spokeswoman said in a statement that "Amber is extremely talented and helped build the outstanding team we have today. We respect her desire to start her own venture and we wish her nothing but the best."

No details were available on Baldet's next project. Reuters reported her departure earlier Monday.

Amber Baldet image via YouTube