Former JPMorgan Exec Becomes New CEO of Blockchain-Based Commodity Trading Platform Vakt

Published at: Feb. 13, 2019

Former JPMorgan Chase executive Etienne Amic has been appointed as new CEO at Vakt, a blockchain-based commodity post-trade platform, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Feb. 13.

Having served as a managing director at both JPMorgan Chase and Mercuria Energy Trading S.A., Amic is expected to bring direct experience in commodities trading to the Vakt platform, which is designed to digitize physical commodities trading by cutting out paperwork.

The new Vakt CEO has most recently served as co-founder and chairman of Vortexa, a cargo and analytics firm specializing in global crude oil and refined products markets, and as founding partner at CommodiTech Ventures, a funder of innovative commodities technologies and business models.

In the press release, Amic said that he believes technology will fundamentally change the physical commodities market.

Pointing out multiple participants of the commodities trading process such as operators, physical clearinghouses, service providers and inspection companies, Amic stressed that Vakt’s platform intends to bring together all contributors on one platform.

United Kingdom-based Vakt — whose platform launched in November 2018 in partnership with major oil companies BP, Shell, and Equinor — offers a post-trade processing platform for any kind of tradable commodity, including energy. The company released its first blockchain-based processing tool targeting the crude oil industry sector based on JPMorgan’s Quorum blockchain technology at the end of November.

The company’s original investors and first users of the platform also include banks ABN Amro, ING and Société Générale, as well as independent traders Gunvor, Koch Supply & Trading, and Mercuria, according to the press release.

In January, the Vakt platform was joined by major United States-based global energy giant Chevron along with French multinational integrated oil and gas company Total and major Indian refiner Reliance Industries.

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