Ethereum Hold

A top exec at one of America's oldest banks explains why Ethereum holds so much promise
Frank Chaparro

Mike McGovern, head of Investor Services Fintech Offerings at Brown Brothers Harriman.
Cryptocurrencies have been red-hot lately. The price of bitcoin and an ether token, for instance, have been on a tear and are up 121% and 490%, respectively, since April 6.

Ether tokens and bitcoin are built on a technology called blockchain. That's a kind of digital ledger that records and verifies transactions made on it.

Ether tokens, which are built on ethereum blockchain, are newer to the crypto-scene than bitcoins, which can trace their origins back to 2009.

Mike McGovern, the new head of Investor Services Fintech Offerings at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co, one of the oldest private banks in the US, thinks one blockchain is clearly superior.

"When looking at bitcoin blockchain versus Ethereum, there's no doubt Ethereum is superior," McGovern told Business Insider in a recent phone interview.

Brown Brothers Harriman has been working on blockchain for five years, according to McGovern. It started with an R&D center in Krakow, Poland.