Metallicus Forms Advisory Board of Banking Regulatory and Compliance Experts

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Metallicus, a leader in digital assets technologies, today announced the formation of its Advisory Board comprised of former senior officials from the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and executives with experience in regulatory compliance and internal audit at major financial institutions.

“From the start, we’ve built Metallicus with a vision that the future of crypto is secure and compliant,” said Marshall Hayner, founder and CEO. “Our new Advisory Board will provide invaluable expertise as we advance our strategy to build the most customer centric digital asset banking network supporting retail and corporate clients and enable innovations to meld seamlessly with traditional finance in a secure, regulated environment. Lee Woolley, Metallicus’ Head of Banking Strategy, has done a fantastic job in assembling a team of forward-thinking experts – bridging the world of traditional and decentralized finance.”

The five initial members of Metallicus’ Advisory Board are:

Lauren Hargraves: Lauren is a former central bank leader who spent more than 35 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. During her time at the Federal Reserve, she successfully ran and transformed businesses in the Fed's three major areas, financial stability and regulation, financial services, and monetary policy. Lauren actively contributed to international regulatory and financial stability policy development through her committee work at the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. Lauren has interacted with a wide array of C-suite executives at Fortune 100 financial institutions.

Bryan Hubbard: Bryan has provided communication and policy counsel to Presidential appointees and chief executives in the financial services and defense sectors for more than 30 years. Most recently he served as deputy comptroller for public affairs at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), supporting the supervision of the $14 trillion U.S. federal banking system. He previously headed strategic communications at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service at the Department of Defense and served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, which included assignments on the Secretary of the Air Force’s public affairs staff.

Mark Carawan: Mark is currently a senior fellow at the New York University School of Law Program for Corporate Compliance and Enforcement (PCCE) and on the Board of the Institute of Internal Auditors. Mark’s professional career most recently includes serving as Citigroup’s chief compliance officer and a member of the Citigroup Executive Committee. Prior to this, he was the Barclays Group chief internal auditor based in London. Mark had formerly been a partner at Deloitte, specializing in enterprise-wide risk management, and at Andersen, where he managed the Privatization and Emerging Markets Division, focusing on financial sector restructuring and privatization projects globally.

Sergio Rodriguera, Jr: Sergio is co-founder at Straylight Systems, an advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) company accelerating data engineering and software engineering workloads for banks, fintechs and DeFis through its AI OS. In addition, he is senior vice president at General Radar focused on providing strategic revenue and investor relations. Most recently, he was senior consultant for AI at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and was a professional staff member on the House Financial Services Committee. He earned multiple medals and awards, including the Defense Meritorious Service Medal as a Naval Intelligence Officer conducting multiple tours, including Afghanistan and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Marc Joseph: Marc is a bank regulatory and financial services attorney with 40 years of experience. Most recently, Marc served as managing counsel for BNY Mellon N.A. supporting the wealth management division. Previously, Marc served for eight years as general counsel of Capmark Bank, an $8 billion FDIC-regulated Utah industrial bank. While at Capmark Bank, Marc advised the board and audit committee on bank regulation and compliance matters. Marc also spent five years as the general counsel of Merrill Lynch Credit Corp., an entity engaged in residential lending and securitization activities. Marc previously served on the board as well as the audit committee of The Delaware Trust Company, acting as the sole outside director.

Metallicus’ expanding portfolio includes Metal Pay, a custodial fiat and cryptocurrency banking app that enables users to deposit fiat into a (free to open) FDIC-insured bank account in our partner bank and to buy and sell 65+ cryptocurrencies; and Proton Blockchain, a Layer 1 Delegating Proof of Stake (DPoS) blockchain that uses very little energy, eliminates gas fees, uses human readable account addresses, and powers a series of DeFi and NFT applications that remain regulated through a verified identity (Know Your Customer or KYC) on-chain protocol.

About Metallicus

Founded in 2016 in San Francisco, Metallicus believes that strong regulation, security, identity, and a simple customer experience are essential for integrating and scaling uses of digital assets and cryptocurrencies into financial services and economic activities. Metallicus builds compliant, secure technologies where banking, payroll and other financial and economic activities meld seamlessly with the world of cryptocurrencies, blockchain, DeFi and Web3. The company's flagship products include the mobile apps Metal Pay and WebAuth as well as the Proton Blockchain, the only blockchain with Verified Decentralized Identity.