Goldman Sachs has lost two senior professionals within its foreign exchange (Forex ) trading unit, with Nick Smith and Kristian Brauten-Smith leaving the firm to create SportStack, a sports spread-betting company, Finance Magnates has learned.
Based in London, Smith was employed at Goldman Sachs for almost three years. He originally joined in June of 2016 as a G10 FX Traders, before moving up the ranks to become an Executive Director in December of last year.
As of this month, Smith is now the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SportStack, where he, along with Brauten-Smith are “building the future of sports betting,” his LinkedIn states.
Kristian Brauten-Smith
Source: LinkedIn
Brauten-Smith’s tenure at Goldman Sachs spanned for seven years and eight months, beginning back in July of 2011 when he joined as a G10 FX Spot Trader in an Analyst role.
After three years, he was promoted to an Associate in the same role and then in December of 2016 he went on to become the Vice President of G10 FX Spot Trading at the firm. At SportStack, Brauten-Smith is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO), also based in London.
SportStack to Change What People Bet On
According to the company’s LinkedIn page, SportStack is: “A sports focussed fin-tech company launching the worlds first Sports Trading Exchange to bet and speculate on player performance EVERY match, EVERY season.”
Instead of just betting on the outcome of a match, which Smith states is simply gambling, SportStack will give people the opportunity to speculate on the performance of big players such as Harry Kane or Tom Brady. The underlying missing of the company is not to change how people bet, but what they bet on.
Nick Smith
Source: LinkedIn
Smith, the CEO of the company, explained the company’s mission in an article on LinkedIn last week: “You can spread-bet the FTSE falling this afternoon or you could speculate that Bitcoin will bounce back this year."
“Why should speculating on Harry Kane or Tom Brady underperforming this weekend or having a great end to their season be any different? Well we don't think it should be and believe you should be able to speculate on the performance of professional athletes and teams every match across every season.”
SportStack, while not yet operational, asks interested parties to join its waitlist at www.sportstack.com.
