Tim Swanson joins Clearmatics, a rival of his former employer R3

Tim Swanson, former Director of Market Research at R3, is joining blockchain builder Clearmatics as its head of market intelligence, per a CoinDesk report.

Swanson had been on Clearmatics’ advisory board since 2015 before joining the London-based firm, according to CoinDesk. Previously, Swanson managed the technology advisory firm Post Oak Labs, which he founded in 2017 after leaving his post as director of market research at R3.

The new gig at Clearmatics would not be entirely unfamiliar to Swanson, as both R3 and Clearmatics offer enterprise blockchain solutions that count several major international banks as their users.

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R3’s Corda blockchain has powered financial software firm Finastra's lending platform, which recently on-boarded France-based banking institutions BNP Paribas, Natixis, and Societe Generale as its clients. Meanwhile, Clearmatics co-initiated the “utility settlement coin” (USC) project that has attracted interest from a group of 14 banks led by UBS Group AG. The group collectively invested $63.2 million in the project last week.

Swanson told CoinDesk that he will not directly participate in the USC project. However, he is excited to see how the initiative unfolds and will focus on other projects that Clearmatics is leading. He told The Block he will serve as a "connector," although he doesn't like using that word. Swanson, who's been working in the bitcoin space for several years, will tap into his wide network to find potential clients and partners for the firm. 

"The team is busy putting out an interoperability protocol. I could help find other projects out there who would be compatible, companies who could plug in with ION," he said. 

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Celia joined The Block as a reporter after earning her BA in the History of Science from the University of Chicago. Having spent years pondering over why 2+2 cannot equal 5, she is interested in the history and philosophy of mathematics, computation, and cryptography. She also had a very brief stint at Crunchbase News.