A director of digital assets has departed for reasons unknown

New York investment bank BNY Mellon maintained its commitment to crypto last year, even while making cuts. Since then, it's been losing a few senior names and one of the team's directors just left.

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Benjamin Duve, the Germany based director of digital assets and blockchain at the bank, announced his departure last week. He worked there for two and a half years after over 14 years at Commerzbank AG, where he was head of digital assets and custody. Duve does not make clear whether he has a new job opportunity lined up, nor whether the decision was by mutual consent.

Maxime De Guilllebon, head of digital asset product, also left BNY in the past year. The ex-CEO of Standard Chartered-owned crypto firm Zodia Custody left back in September, and only resurfaced at the start of 2024. He's left London for Switzerland and is joining Ripple's product team.

It's not just senior names. England-based Oliver Hunter left BNY's digital assets team in Manchester to join Nomura's crypto arm, Laser Digital, in January. 

There are some MDs in crypto who remain at BNY, but they tend to be in the US. Global head of digital asset custody Hadley Stern still appears to be working at BNY Mellon in Boston, while head of enterprise tokenization Victor O'Laughlen, Jr. is based in New York. 

Neither BNY Mellon nor Duve responded to request for comment.

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