Commonwealth bank chief financial officer Rob Jesudason has resigned from the bank — to join a blockchain and cryptocurrency play.

Jesudason will take up a role in Hong Kong as Group President and Chief Operating Officer of blockchain company Block.one.

Block.one also issues a crypto token called EOS, which is currently the fifth largest cryptocurrency in the world with a market capitalisation of over $US12 billion.

Cryptocurrencies or tokens are a type of digital money designed to be secure and anonymous. The best-known tokens are Bitcoin and Ethereum. They are made possible by a technology called blockchain, which provides an encrypted online ledger of transactions.

“Rob has a proven track record of success in global financial services. His alignment with our organisational priorities of creating compliant, high performance blockchain solutions is an ideal fit for Block.one, and is an exciting conclusion to our thorough search for the right individual,” Block.one CEO Brendan Blumer.

Block.one is a publisher of open-source software, with a focus on blockchain technologies.

The company is currently developing the EOSIO project, which it calls “the first performant blockchain platform for developers”. The project is scheduled for launch in June.

The company is based in the Cayman Islands and employs around 200 people globally.

“Blockchain will have a transformative impact on most industries in the coming years and will redefine operating models by streamlining businesses, while also reducing cost and risk,” Jesudason said.

“The market’s strong response to Block.one’s approach has resulted in it being one of the fastest growing organisations in the world, and this will inform our operational growth strategies going forward.”

CBA has appointed Alan Docherty as acting chief financial officer. He will take up the position from today.

“I am very please to have someone of Alan’s calibre and experience step in to act as our Chief Financial Officer while we complete an internal and external search for the role,” CBA chief executive Matt Comyn said.

“We are making good progress with the renewal of the Bank’s executive team and I expect to provide an update on appointments to my leadership team in the coming weeks.”

Jesudason joined CBA in 2011 and became CFO in July 2017, just before the bank was taken to court by AUSTRAC. Prior to that, he was based in Hong Kong as group executive for international financial services.

Docherty joined the bank in 2003 and was previously the CFO for institutional banking and markets.

 

This article first appeared on Business Insider Australia, Australia’s most popular business news website. Follow Business Insider on Facebook or Twitter.