Crypto infrastructure firm Securrency named Nadine Chakar, previously the head of State Street Digital, as its CEO, effective Jan. 9, the fintech announced Thursday.
Chakar joined State Street in 2019 as the bank’s head of global markets but moved to lead its nascent 425-employee digital unit in 2021. State Street Digital launched that year to address not just crypto but central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), blockchain technology and tokenization.
During that time, though, Chakar also served on Securrency’s board of directors.
Naming Chakar to lead Securrency will allow the company’s founder and previous CEO, Dan Doney, to move to a chief technology officer role and focus on innovation, technology delivery and commercialization, the fintech said.
“The financial services industry is at a critical tipping point as it tokenizes regulated real-world assets and automates legacy financial processes using the power of blockchain technology,” Chakar said. “My priority is to accelerate the commercialization of what is in essence the digital asset intelligence and interoperability foundation for major financial institutions and the global ecosystem.”
Before joining State Street, Chakar served as global head of operations and data at Manulife and was a longtime executive at BNY Mellon.
“[Chakar] knows capital market operations inside and out,” Doney said in Thursday’s release. “She has a razor-sharp view of where reform is needed and how our technology can help.”
Securrency offers tokenizations, account management services and blockchain-based decentralized finance technology that connects traditional financial platforms and blockchain networks. It counts State Street and U.S. Bank among its clients and investors.
“The future of finance relies on regulation-forward and compliance-driven digital development, and Nadine has long been a driver of this evolution,” said Jonathan Steinberg, CEO of WisdomTree, a Securrency client. “I have witnessed not only her tremendous expertise in the integration of RegTech and digital assets, but her steadfast belief that Securrency’s technology will pave the way for institutional DeFi.”
