Ex-chancellor Lord Hammond to step down as Copper chair

Lord Hammond, the former chancellor of the exchequer, is preparing to step down as chairman of Copper, the digital assets group, as it reorients its growth plans away from the UK to the US market.

Sky News has learnt that Copper's board is in the process of recruiting a successor to Lord Hammond, who served as chancellor during Theresa May's premiership. Sources said the process was at an advanced stage and was expected to lead to the appointment of an experienced American finance executive before the end of the year.

Lord Hammond, who took over the chairmanship of Copper in early 2023, is expected to remain a shareholder in the company after he steps down. He was previously an adviser to its board.

Since leaving government, he has amassed a collection of private sector roles, and is now chairman of Railsr, an embedded finance business. One insider said he had been actively engaged in the identification of the company's next chair.

Copper specialises in the provision of digital asset custody and trading technology services to clients. It counts Barclays and Alan Howard, the co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management, a prominent hedge fund, among its investors.

Founded in 2018 and based in London, it employs hundreds of people. Lord Hammond has been critical of the pace of regulatory reform in the UK amid the rapid evolution of the global cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors.

Last December, it emerged that Copper had abandoned its second bid to register in the UK with the Financial Conduct Authority. The previous year, its chairman told the Financial Times that Britain was falling behind in a crucial and fast-growing part of the financial services sector.

"Switzerland is further ahead; the EU is also moving faster," he told the newspaper. "There has to be appetite to take some measured risk." Read more from Sky News:US financial firms pledge £1.25bn to UK ahead of Trump visitZoopla and Uswitch owner plots break-up and sale Copper has not raised a significant round of new funding for several years, and is not thought to have a need to secure additional capital.

The company is now run by Amar Kuchinad, a former Goldman Sachs executive, who replaced its founder, Dmitry Tokarev, in the role. It recently announced the appointment of Rosie Murphy Williams, who previously worked at the London Stock Exchange and Royal Bank of Scotland, as its chief operating officer.

Earlier this year, it said it had agreed an alliance with Cantor Fitzgerald's new Bitcoin financing business, underlining the continuing growth of cryptoassets and the businesses which serve them. Since US President Donald Trump began his second term in the White House, a glut of digital asset companies have rushed to join the public markets, buoyed by a favourable regulatory climate and growing investor interest.

On Sunday, both Lord Hammond and Copper declined to comment..