Blythe Masters Sticks With Blockchain Over Top Barclays Banking Role

Digital Asset Holdings’ CEO Blythe Masters has reportedly turned down an offer for a top management position at Barclays to stick with her blockchain technology startup.

Blythe Masters, CEO of New York-based Digital Asset has turned down the chance to “run” Barclays’ investment banking division and chose to stay with her current blockchain-based startup Digital Holdings.

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Masters is among the most prominent figures on Wall Street and is known as one of the creators of the credit derivatives market. She left JP Morgan after 27 years with the bank and joined Digital Asset Holdings as CEO in March 2015.

As reported by Reuters, new Barclays head Jes Staley reached out Masters about taking the mantle of the British bank’s investment banking arm. The publication cites an unnamed source with the information. Staley and Mathers are former colleagues who previously worked together at JPMorgan.

Despite the prominent role offered, Masters turned the advance down to stick with Digital Asset, a startup which she is “fully committed to, in an email to Reuters.

She stated:

I can’t think of a better person than Jes Staley, nor a more venerable institution than Barclays, but I am mid-flight at Digital Asset and fully committed to what we are doing.

Barclays has been wading through rough waters lately, including the infamous Libor scandal, an interest rigging scandal that saw global banks pay out over $9 billion in fines in total. The British bank also saw amammoth fine of £72m imposed by the Financial Conduct Authority after a regulator concluded the bank ran the risk of being used for illicit purposes such as money laundering and terrorism financing.

Staley has experience in running an investment ban himself, by heading JPMorgan’s investment bank previously. He started his role as Barclays CEO this Tuesday, taking over from former chief Antony Jenkins who was fired by Barclays in July after several disagreements with the bank’s board. In a recent speech, Jenkins spoke about blockchain-based startups and other Fintech endeavors causing “significant disruption” to the banking sector in the near future.

Digital Asset Holdings has recently been on a hungry tear acquiring other blockchain startups ever since she took over as new chief executive. The most recent acquisition was that of Blockstack.io, a San Francisco-based startup that uses APIs and SDKs on a private blockchain to develop applications for financial institutions and clients.