Ben Strack

Former State Street head of digital finance Nadine Chakar is now set to lead blockchain startup Securrency as its CEO.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Chakar is expected to assume the role on Jan. 9. The firm&#8217;s founder Dan Doney, who was previously working as the company’s CEO, will continue as chief technology officer.



Securrency is a blockchain-based financial and regulatory technology developer. The firm has <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/wisdomtrees-latest-blockchain-enabled-funds-to-use-ethereum-stellar" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">worked with</a> asset manager WisdomTree on its push to launch what it calls blockchain-enabled funds. Securrency says it serves as a transfer agent by maintaining a secondary record of share ownership on the Stellar or Ethereum blockchains.



WisdomTree Investments, alongside State Street, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/state-street-u-s-bank-in-on-30m-securrency-raise" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">participated</a> in Securrency&#8217;s $30 million Series B raise in Apr. 2021.



State Street Digital <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/state-street-launches-digital-finance-unit-for-crypto" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launched</a> in Jun. 2021 as a way for the custody bank to expand its capabilities in the crypto, central bank digital currency, blockchain and tokenization segments. 



Before leading its crypto-related efforts, Chakar became State Street&#8217;s head of global markets in 2019 after working for several years as global head of operations and data at Manulife Investment Management.



The Securrency move comes after a State Street spokesperson told Blockworks in October that Chakar was set to leave the company at the end of 2022.&nbsp;



The spokesperson added that <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinebond/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Martine Bond</a> — who led global markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and was head of <a href="https://globallink.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GlobalLink</a>, had assumed Chakar’s role at State Street on an interim basis and is still in that role.



“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 in a statement. 



&#8220;As the new CEO, 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.&#8221;



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