Wall Street banks expand crypto sell-side research
Several traditional banks are looking to fill crypto-related positions within their research divisions – the latest sign that the digital asset ecosystem is fully integrating into the broader market.
Investment banks have long been researching digital assets, but these firms now want to pay more attention to them as the number of large, publicly traded companies operating in the space grows and crypto markets overwhelm. in traditional finance. Late last year, Morgan Stanley announced that Sheena Shah would lead a new team covering the crypto ecosystem, while Bank of America announced its own crypto hedging unit in October.
Coinbase – the star child of the US crypto market – has a long list of analysts covering its stock, including researchers from Citi, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Raymond James.
In addition to covering the activities of crypto companies, analysts also unpack macro topics that can shape token price fluctuations, new technological developments in the blockchain space, and other topics.
“If you look at the number of companies mentioning crypto in their earnings calls, it’s gone from about 17 last year to about 147 in the last quarter,” Candace Browning, head of global research, said recently. at BofA Securities, at Bloomberg TV.
The trend has also been fueled by branding changes, such as in Meta (formerly Facebook) and Block (formerly Square) aimed at highlighting crypto ambitions. When it comes to the metaverse, the new niche crypto buzzword was mentioned by executives from Bumble, Qualcomm, and Tencent during Q3 earnings calls.
Amid growing crypto intrigue, Jefferies has get up a research team dedicated to payments and crypto equity research, according to a job posting. The company is currently looking for a partner for the unit to focus on “cryptocurrency and blockchain technology”.
Canaccord Genuity is looking to fill a similar junior level role, which will interface with corporate management teams and write research reports.
Credit Suisse, on the other hand, is looking at to fill a VP-level crypto and digital asset role, also according to a job posting. This person would write reports on the crypto industry and present them to the firm’s institutional and wealth management clients.
These companies, of course, compete for talent with crypto-native companies offering search and enterprise coverage, including Galaxy Digital.
As for recent moves and promotions, John Todaro joined Needham & Company last year and was promoted to his crypto-asset and blockchain research principle in December, according to the former TradeBlock director’s LinkedIn. . Todaro is among Coinbase analysts. And Goldman Sachs’ Mike Nance, who has been with the bank since 2015, took on the role of senior research analyst for the payments and digital assets sectors last year.
© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All rights reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended for use as legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice.
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