Former Coinbase UK boss joins crypto payments group as advisor

BCB Group, a London-based startup selling banking services to crypto firms, has brought former Coinbase UK chief executive Zeeshan Feroz into the fold as an advisor.

Although not a bank itself, BCB works with other banks to provide business accounts, payments and foreign exchange tools to crypto wallet and exchange operators.

A lack of access to such services has long dogged the crypto sector.

“One of the things I found at Coinbase, and that the crypto industry in general struggles with, is banking – access to reliable, robust banking infrastructure,” Feroz told The Block. “BCB is one of the few providers out there that is trying to solve for that.”

By way of example, Feroz drew attention to BCB’s BLINC network, a tool designed to help institutions trading crypto to move funds around more quickly and with lower fees than existing payments solutions allow.

“BCB recognised that a lot of fiat flows are between exchanges and OTC desks and institutional customers, and there is a need for moving large sums of money from one venue to another very, very quickly – almost instantly – and at a low cost,” said Feroz.  

The BLINC system is similar to the Silvergate Exchange Network, which is popular among crypto businesses in the US.

Feroz, who stepped down as Coinbase UK’s CEO in August 2020, has since been advising a number of crypto firms. He remained at Coinbase as a strategic consultant until leaving the company for good in December.

Feroz was hired in part to help steward several new crypto-specific products that BCB is planning to launch. He would not reveal what those products are, but he did note that that there are “a lot of emerging opportunities in DeFi”.