BCB Group Chief Departs Crypto Banking Firm

The chief executive of BCB Group has reportedly stepped down from the cryptocurrency banking company.

CEO Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie has left the firm to seek new opportunities, Coindesk reported Wednesday (Nov. 22), citing a company email.

Oliver Tonkin, deputy CEO and former BCB general counsel, has been bumped up the ladder to take over for von Landsberg-Sadie, Coindesk said.

His promotion to CEO is an indication of the “increasingly maturing crypto industry as the firm prepares for continued global growth and expansion,” BCB said.

The report noted that his departure marks the latest in a string of executive resignations from the company, a payments processor that links crypto firms to the banking system.

Ian Moore, the company’s chief banking officer, resigned in September. And deputy CEO Noah Sharp stepped down in June after an attempt to buy Germany’s Sutor Bank fell apart due to regulatory concerns and market conditions.

As PYMNTS wrote, uncertainty has surrounded much of the crypto sector all year. For example, Great Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has recently begun crackdown on crypto firms that violate new standards around frauds and scams.

“And while that may sound like nothing new, the FCA’s director of consumer investments has alleged that “a significant number” of crypto firms won’t be able to make the mark under the new regime,” that report said. “The news comes barely a year after the U.K. attempted to position itself as a global crypto hub.”

It has led a number of financial institutions in the U.K. to tighten their limits on retail customers’ access to cryptocurrency. For example, Chase UK has banned customers from making cryptocurrency transactions in order to protect them from an increasing number of frauds and scams associated with crypto.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), whose Chairman Gary Gensler has taken a decidedly anti-crypto position, has argued in court that cryptocurrencies lack any “innate or inherent value of its own.”

This week also saw the resignation of another crypto executive, although under wildly different circumstances.

Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, agreed to step down and plead guilty to violating criminal U.S. anti-money laundering rules.

The deal also involves Binance pleading guilty to a criminal charge and paying $4.3 billion in fines, and aims to conclude long-running investigations into the company.

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