Fernando’s 20 years of industry knowledge in digital asset could help the Foundation achieve its goal of expanding its main businesses.

Fernando continues to serve in his current capacity despite being a member of the Cardano Foundation digital asset. Fernando did not relinquish his position as Chief Executive Officer of SBI Digital Asset Holdings because the Foundation is non-profit. Fernando is a seasoned open-source developer and supporter who has worked in the sector worldwide.

He began his career at the Universidade de Vigo in Spain before moving to Japan to work for NTT. After that, he held several positions within SBI’s various divisions, eventually rising to his current position as CEO of SBI’s digital asset holdings unit. Frederik Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Foundation, said of his addition:

“The board plays an integral role in providing guidance and oversight for the Cardano Foundation. Fernando has a distinguished track record in business and software development, and his expertise adds another layer to our prestigious board. He played a crucial role in building a high-performance team at NTT that contributed to many open-source projects, and he will be an invaluable asset to us as we continue to advance our efforts and scale our operations.”

Currently, the Foundation is working with regulators and groups to “de-risk decentralization,” assuring opportunities for those who want to make a beneficial global impact.

SBI  Creating a Digital Asset Bank

It’s no secret that SBI Group, based in Japan, is heavily invested in cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and digital assets. CEO Yoshitaka Kitao presented the big picture during the company’s annual results presentation in 2021.

It included the establishment of a digital asset bank in Japan and abroad.

Also, read – Crypto Market Tracking – Cardano, Luna, and Solana Recovers 

“We’d like to ensure that we grow this new field and become the dominant number one in building an ecosystem,” Mr. Kitao said of digital assets. Many of its main activities have already been revealed, but he provided additional details.

The strategy includes four pillars, one of which is developing a global secondary market for security tokens. One of these is a joint venture with Singapore’s SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), set to go live this year.

With SMBC, SBI is creating the Osaka Digital Exchange (ODX). These two exchanges will link to the SBI-owned Boerse Stuttgart Digital Exchange (BSDEX) in Germany and the SIX Digital Exchange in Switzerland.

Since protection tokens will be exchanged internationally, the relations between these entities are crucial.

One of the omissions in this photo is the United States. While there was no mention of a secondary market in the United States, Mr. Kitao stated that Signum, a Swiss and Singapore-based digital asset bank, is considering launching one in the United States, which Mr. Kitao supports.

SBI invested more than $10 million in Sygnum digital asset in February 2021 for a 4.95 percent stake. The two companies that formed a blockchain investment fund in Italy’s Azimut Group are interested. In the United States, though, Sygnum will be up against several well-funded rivals. Paxos, for example, was recently granted a license for a digital asset bank and raised $300 million at a value of $2.4 billion.

Sygnum appears to be an obvious goal for SBI, given its ambition to become a digital asset bank. However, how quickly Sygnum grows is a factor. SBI, on the other hand, invested in cryptocurrency market maker B2C2 in July 2020 and increased its stake to more than 90% in less than six months.

During that time, however, B2C2 experienced rapid development. SBI also reported investing in other digital asset segments such as DeFi, Nonfungible Tokens (NFT), and CBDCs. Although much of the action in DeFi is on Ethereum, SBI appears to be looking elsewhere, especially at DeFi on the Polkadot network, given Ethereum’s high gas costs.