JP Morgan Blockchain Spin-Off Kadena Hires New Head of Growth

Blockchain startup Kadena is continuing its expansion plans with the addition of a former Capco innovation lead to its ranks.

Ben Jessel will serve the new head of business growth for Kadena, which announced in January that it had raised $2.25 million during a private-placement SAFT round. The company's co-founders previously worked within JP Morgan's Emergent Technologies group, with the startup branching off from that effort.

Jessel is the former head of innovation and blockchain at financial services consulting firm Capital Markets Company (Capco), where he remains an advisor. In an interview with CoinDesk, Jessel said he was bringing a strategic lens to Kadena, adding that "there’s some very exciting technology here … the question is, how do we make this real for clients?"

To that end, Jessel explained that while his focus will be on Kadena's private blockchain offerings, he is working with the team behind its public Chainweb network, which is expected to launch later this year.

Part of the challenge is in deciding whether Kadena should offer an end-to-end solution product or simply put forward the tools to help its clients develop their own solutions, he said.

To help in solving that puzzle, Kadena offers its clients access to the language behind its blockchain, simplifying the process to add to it.

"One of our beliefs is that organizations are going to require a fast, available public blockchain, and they need a code that can be understood by people within the organization," he explained.

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