It’s not unusual to see former government officials slip into private sector roles after their public service. However, transitioning from the White House to a blockchain start-up is still a novel situation – one that former White House aide Gary Cohn will now have first hand experience with. After serving as a financial advisor to the Trump White House, he will now be advising Spring Labs.
Prior to joining the White House staff, Cohn served as the COO of Goldman Sachs during the subprime mortgage crisis and aftermath. Throughout his tenure at Goldman Sachs, he became involved in both a delegation to Greece during their economic crisis and as a spokesman for the company in front of Congress.
Spring Labs and Blockchain as a Data Sharing Service
The start-up in question intends to leverage blockchain technology to keep track of customer’s credit scores – allowing disparate banks to easily share information that might be pertinent when making credit decisions. As is usually the case with integrated blockchain technology, this would significantly boost the efficiency of such a system – allowing customers to gain responses in a fraction of the time that legacy networks require.
Further, using blockchain technology adds an additional layer of security that is increasingly critical moving into the future. Identification information and personal data are often at risk, as the massive Equifax breach in 2017 made painfully apparent. The use of decentralized blockchain technology could help prevent this type of hack and restore some layer of confidence in how data is handled by major businesses.
Gary Cohn’s Involvement
As an advisor, Cohn will offer his long-time financial expertise to the team creating Spring Labs flagship product. While the developers may have a solid grasp on the issue at hand and the means to solve it, Cohn has decades of experience that can guide Spring Labs on problems that are less readily apparent. His position at Goldman Sachs may offer Spring Labs a valuable glimpse into the needs of corporate banking, giving them a considerable edge over their immediate competition.
Cohn himself is no stranger to blockchain technology or cryptocurrency. He was famously quoted earlier this year disparaging Bitcoin – while simultaneously outlining his strong beliefs in blockchain technology. There’s no doubt he’s a strong addition to the Spring Labs team, but he also shows a continued shift away from cryptocurrency and towards blockchain-traditional system hybrids.
Article By: Adam Stone
