James Wester

Director, Cryptocurrency and Co-Head of Payments

James helps financial services clients understand the evolving crypto and digital currency space. Drawing on his more than two decades of experience in research, marketing and communications in payments, technology and financial services, James provides the insights and information financial institutions and their technology providers need to build successful products and services around digital assets, cryptocurrencies, and tokens.

Most recently, James managed strategic communications for PayPal supporting the company’s blockchain, crypto, and digital currencies business unit. Prior to PayPal, he served as research director of IDC Financial Insights’ worldwide blockchain and payment strategies practices.

James has been widely quoted in the media including The New York Times, Marketplace (NPR), The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and Good Morning America. He has a master’s degree in management information technology from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in English and communications from Drury University.

Javelin’s cryptocurrency practice offers data and practical guidance to technology vendors and financial services providers on cryptocurrencies, digital currencies, tokens, and the technology behind them. The practice helps clients understand how to navigate the market as digital currencies, stablecoins, and digital assets become a more important part of the larger financial services world.

Latest Insights

March, 2024
Javelin Report
Five Ways Assertive Regulators Will Shape the Future of Payments

The past few years have seen an increased role for U.S. regulators across financial services, with crackdowns against banking partnerships, crypto coin minters, credit card issuers...

March, 2024
Javelin Report
Identity as a Digital Asset: Tokenizing the Self

Decentralized technologies, including blockchain, provide a secure foundation for building identity solutions that are not only secure but also provide users with the ability to co...

February, 2024
Javelin Report
Fintech Investment Trends: Waiting for the Next Wave

The widespread pullback from fintech investment in 2023 is gone as the payments space plunges deeper into 2024, but the priorities have shifted. New and emerging fintechs are focus...

Events

September 11, 2023 | 08:00 AM to 05:35 PM (EST)
See 70+ cutting-edge technologies from startups to established firms. The most live fintech demos yo...
August, 2022
Join experts from CryptoFi, Finastra, Chainalysis, Javelin Strategy & Research, and Strategic Resour...
November, 2022
The payments ecosystem is evolving. The Javelin and Mercator analysts joined forces to bring their c...

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