About CheckSig Clear
CheckSig Clear
CheckSig Clear is the business unit of CheckSig, a regulated Italian crypto intermediary founded in 2019 under the initiative of the Digital Gold Institute (DGI), one of Europe’s leading think tanks specializing in digital assets.
Entirely dedicated to traditional financial institutions, CheckSig Clear offers Crypto-as-a-Service solutions designed to integrate seamlessly into existing systems, without adding technical complexity or operational burden.
Backed by professionals with strong technical expertise and solid backgrounds in banking, consulting, and academia, CheckSig Clear was created to bridge technological depth with institutional needs. This unique combination of skills enables a smooth convergence between digital asset innovation and the standards of traditional finance.
Mission
CheckSig Clear’s mission is to make access to crypto assets simple, secure, and fully compliant.
Traditional financial institutions remain the cornerstone of trust and the natural choice for individuals seeking reliable investment solutions. As crypto evolves into a significant and mature asset class, it should be accessible through the same trusted channels people already rely on to manage their wealth.
CheckSig Clear offers a robust, modular infrastructure designed to enable institutions to deliver crypto services with ease, transparency and full regulatory compliance, while minimizing complexity.
Vision
CheckSig Clear’s vision is to become one of the leading crypto firms in Europe, specializing in the seamless integration of digital assets within the institutional financial landscape.
The goal is to provide major financial institutions with a comprehensive, all-in-one solution that fully aligns with the rigorous standards and best practices of the traditional financial system.
In an industry often characterized by opacity and short-term improvisation, CheckSig Clear stands out as a trusted partner committed to transparency, consistency, and operational integrity—offering institutions a steady pathway into the evolving world of digital assets.
Why “CheckSig Clear”?
The name CheckSig references a technical instruction from Bitcoin’s Script language, OP_CHECKSIG, which is used to verify the authenticity of digital signatures and ensure the validity of transactions. This operation is fundamental to the security and trust of the protocol, making it a fitting metaphor for our approach.
The name Clear further reflects the concept of clearing in traditional finance, where transactions between institutions are efficiently reconciled, while also highlighting the values of clarity and transparency that guide its operations.
Top managers
Ferdinando Ametrano
Co-founder and chief executive officer
Paolo Mazzocchi
Co-founder and chief operating officer
Michele Mandelli
Co-founder and chief financial officer
Ferdinando Ametrano
Co-founder and chief executive officer
A physics graduate, he built twenty years of experience in the banking sector and asset management. He has led trading, quantitative finance and risk management teams in Banca IMI, Banca Caboto and Monte Paschi Asset Management, and has been Head of Blockchain and Virtual Currencies in Intesa Sanpaolo. He was long a derivative product finance professional, teaching “Interest Rate Derivatives” at the Milano-Bicocca University until 2022. He is the founder of QuantLib, the open source software project for quantitative finance.In 2014 he turned to Bitcoin, initially with a critical approach, later making it the main focus of his professional and academic activity. Adjunct professor in several European universities, he teaches “Bitcoin & Crypto-Assets” and is the author of numerous scientific publications.
He takes part regularly in the debate on digital finance and has spoken in academic and institutional settings, including the Italian Parliament, the United Nations and several central banks. He was a member of the organizing committee of Scaling Bitcoin and has contributed to the Bitcoin Core project.
The convergence of financial experience, research and technological expertise led him to co-found CheckSig. As CEO he drives the development of services and infrastructure that let private and institutional investors access Bitcoin and crypto-assets through professional, transparent and security-oriented processes.
Paolo Mazzocchi
Co-founder and chief operating officer
Graduated in Mathematical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Milan, Paolo Mazzocchi is Assistant Lecturer of the "Interest Rate Derivatives" and "Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology" courses at the University of Milano-Bicocca.In his professional career he held the role of Quantitative Finance consultant in Deloitte, where he became member of Deloitte's EMEA Blockchain lab, since 2018 he held the role of Executive Director of the Digital Gold Institute and became faculty member of the Crypto Asset Lab of the University of Milano-Bicocca. In 2019 founds CheckSig, a Bitcoin custody company for institutional investors and wealthy individuals.
Michele Mandelli
Co-founder and chief financial officer
Michele Mandelli is co-founder, Board Member and Chief Financial Officer of CheckSig, the first crypto-asset service provider (CASP) authorised in Italy under the MiCAR Regulation.His speciality is designing and building financial institutions from the ground up. He did so for fifteen years as a strategy consultant, launching new banks in Italy, and does so today at CheckSig, an intermediary built with the rigour, controls and governance of a bank.
He joined CheckSig in 2021 alongside its two founders and has helped lead its growth from start-up to regulated group, operating in Italy and Switzerland, with more than 2,000 clients and over €100 million in crypto-assets under custody. He personally led the MiCAR authorisation project, coordinating internal teams and the dialogue with Consob and the Bank of Italy. Before that, he oversaw the incorporation of CheckSig Suisse, where he sits on the Board, and its affiliation with a FINMA-recognised self-regulatory organisation. As CFO, his mission is to industrialise the group's finance function to the standards of a supervised intermediary.
On the commercial side, he championed internally the creation of CheckSig Clear, the B2B2C business line that enables banks and financial intermediaries to offer crypto services to their own clients, and oversaw its launch. He maintains direct relationships with Italy's leading banking groups.
He is a member of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Digital Assets, Blockchain and Bitcoin of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, sitting on the working groups on stablecoins, CBDCs and payment systems, and on banks, banking foundations and pension funds. He is a regular speaker at major financial-industry conferences and comments in the national media on the relationship between banks and crypto-assets.
Before CheckSig, he worked at Monitor Deloitte and then at The Boston Consulting Group, where he was a Principal in the Financial Institutions practice. In both firms he advised CEOs and boards of major banking groups on strategy, digital transformation and the launch of new banks. At Deloitte he also led the strategy team of the EMEA Blockchain Lab, advising systemically important financial institutions on crypto-asset custody and euro-denominated stablecoins.
An entrepreneur beyond the financial sector, he co-founded PerLa Cura, a private medical group in Lombardy, and Teamsight, a people-analytics company acquired by Glickon.
He graduated with honours in Management from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and attended the Strategic Management in Banking programme at INSEAD.
He looks to the future of finance with optimism. He believes Bitcoin and crypto-assets will become a permanent part of what banks offer, and that the task of those building today is to make this possible in a way that is safe, transparent and regulated.
Board of Directors
Luisa Coloni
Independent chairwoman
Ferdinando Ametrano
Chief executive officer
Andrea Berruto
Non-Executive Director
Luisa Graziani
Independent non-executive director
Michele Mandelli
Board member
Denis Masetti
Non-executive director
Paolo Mazzocchi
Executive director
Board of Statutory Auditors
Roberta Bianchi
Chairwoman
Matteo Antonucci
Alternate Statutory Auditor
Daniele Beretta
Statutory Auditor
Giacomo Goria
Statutory Auditor
Anna Scannavino
Alternate Statutory Auditor
Offices
Milan (IT)
Headquarter
Zug (CH)
Do you want to work with us?
We are always eager to meet professionals and talents who can add value to CheckSig. Send your application to [email protected] or check the open positions.