Hadley Stern, the executive who led Fidelity Investments' blockchain research and development for the last three years, is joining a well-known startup in the field.
Announced today, Stern has been named the first-ever chief operating officer at blockchain software startup Bloq. Stern worked for 17 years at Fidelity, most recently as a senior vice president and the managing director of the blockchain incubator at Fidelity Labs.
Stern is leaving the financial services giant just as it launches a new digital asset trading and storage platform, Fidelity Digital Asset Services LLC, a major development in the institutionalization of cryptocurrency announced last week. But he told CoinDesk he wants to pursue bigger ambitions in blockchain.