Spotlight on: Digital Assets 

Professor Amir Yaron was appointed by the President of Israel as Governor of the Bank of Israel on December 24, 2018.

He is a world-renowned expert in macroeconomics, monetary economics, finance, and financial economics.

Prof. Yaron obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Tel Aviv University, and served as an officer in the unit of the Economic Advisor to the IDF Chief of General Staff. He then went abroad, where he obtained a Master's degree and a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He is a full professor in the Finance Department at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has held the Robert Morris Chair in Banking. 

Prof. Yaron has served in a number of senior leadership positions in the academic world:

• Faculty Research Associate at NBER, and one of its research group heads on capital markets and economics.

• President of the Foundation for the Advancement of Research in Financial Economics  (FARFE).

• Member of the Board of the Western Finance Association.

• Chairman of SFS Cavalcade.

• Editor of a number of periodicals.

​His joint study with Ravi Banzal, "Risks for the Long Run: A Potential Resolution of Asset Pricing Puzzles", referred to in the literature as the "Bansal-Yaron Model", is one of the leading studies worldwide regarding the interface between macroeconomics and finance. The paper was reviewed in the writings of the Nobel Prize Scientific Committee in 2013, and led to the Governor winning the prestigious Stephen Ross Award in 2019.​

Professor Yaron has been a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, MIT, the University of Chicago, Goethe University, the Bank of Israel, CEMFI-Spain, IIES-Sweden, and the IMF.

Adrien Treccani is an entrepreneur, author and, at core, a software engineer specialized in financial mathematics, confidential computing, cryptography and digital assets. A former hedge fund quant, he has been advising banks and financial institutions on distributed ledger technology for more than a decade, and in 2015 he founded Metaco, a market-leading technology company providing software infrastructure to financial and non-financial institutions looking to integrate digital assets into their business model. He now serves as the company’s CEO, being responsible for setting the strategy and overseeing the growth execution of the firm.

Adrien lectured at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) and University of Lausanne (UNIL) in cryptography and the financial applications of blockchain and is a published scholar in leading international peer-reviewed finance journals. Most recently, Adrien co-authored the best-seller book ‘Blockchain and Distributed Ledgers: Mathematics, Technology, and Economics’, a detailed and self-contained introduction to the founding principles behind blockchain, DLTs and cryptocurrencies, for professionals operating in quantitatively oriented fields such as mathematics, computer science and banking.

Antonio is the chief compliance officer at Crypto.com, where he leads a global team responsible for the design, implementation and scaling up of the regulatory compliance program for the company in the demanding context of an exponentially growing business. As a global payments and remittances compliance officer, Antonio has nearly two decades of experience building and leading regulatory compliance programs for cash, electronic payment forms and crypto-based business models. 

Prior to Crypto.com, he was VP of compliance at Coinbase where he led the company’s global Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program, and was responsible for the company's sanction programs, regulatory and independent examinations and financial partner compliance relationships. Antonio was also chief compliance officer at online and mobile payments solutions provider Yapstone, has held senior compliance/regulations roles at Western Union and Visa. Earlier in his career, Antonio served in several different roles during a 13-year tenure at American Express, where he was responsible for leading the business transformation and compliance governance programs across multiple business lines and geographies. 

Antonio's work expands across North and South America, Europe and Asia, and he is a dual U.S. and European citizen fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese. He is a member of ACAMS, the largest international membership organization for Anti-Financial Crime professionals.

Brad is the CEO of Ripple and a member of the Board of Directors. Prior to Ripple, Brad served as the CEO of file collaboration service Hightail. From 2009 to 2012 he was President of Consumer Applications at AOL and prior to that he held various executive positions at Yahoo! from 2003 to 2009, including Senior Vice President.

Earlier in his career, Brad helped to pioneer the VoIP industry as CEO of Dialpad Communications. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of OutMatch and has held board positions at Ancestry.com and Tonic Health.

Caroline is the Vice President of Global Public Policy at Chainalysis, the international leader in blockchain analytics, focused on bringing greater transparency to the world of blockchains and digital assets. She has more than 15 years experience at the international level working with governments and international organisations, and was the founding head of the OECD’s Global Blockchain Policy Centre. She is one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders.

David Newns was made Head SIX Digital Exchange in October 2021 with a mandate to lead SDX in building the next generation fully regulated digital market infrastructure and establish SDX as a leader in global institutional Digital Assets and Cryptocurrency services.

David is an entrepreneur and financial services professional with over 20 years of experience in capital markets. Prior to SDX, he was Senior Managing director at State Street and Global Head of GlobalLink Execution Services. In this role he was responsible for the award winning Currenex and FX Connect independent multi-asset class trading platform businesses.

Previously, David was Global Head of Currenex and SwapEx. Before that, he held the roles of Chief Operating Officer for State Street Global Exchange Trading & Clearing and State Street eExchange EMEA.=

In 2001 David joined Currenex as a founding member of Currenex’s London operation. Before joining Currenex, David held several positions in technical services at MicroStrategy, a leading global provider of enterprise software platforms for business intelligence.

Eswar Prasad is the Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy and Professor of Economics at Cornell University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he holds the New Century Chair in International Economics, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He was previously chief of the Financial Studies Division in the IMF’s Research Department and, before that, was the head of the IMF’s China Division.

Prasad’s latest book is The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution is Transforming Currencies and Finance (Harvard University Press, 2021), which was listed among the best economics books of 2021 by the Economist, the Financial Times and Foreign Affairs. He is also the author of Gaining Currency: The Rise of the Renminbi (Oxford, 2016) and The Dollar Trap: How the U.S. Dollar Tightened Its Grip on Global Finance (Princeton, 2014). Prasad has testified before the Senate Finance Committee, the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He is the creator of the Brookings-Financial Times world economy index (TIGER: Tracking Indices for the Global Economic Recovery). His op-ed articles have appeared in the Financial Times, Foreign Policy, Harvard Business Review, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. 

Link to book website: https://futureofmoneybook.com

Link to author website: http://prasad.dyson.cornell.edu

Fernando Luis Vázquez Cao is an open-source software industry veteran with over 20 years of experience across technology innovation and governance, capital markets and digital assets. Fernando holds unparalleled knowledge of the Asian financial services sector from both a business and technical perspective.

He is currently CEO of SBI Digital Asset Holdings, a company that oversees and operates digital asset- related businesses, under the umbrella of SBI Holdings. Fernando started his career in academia where he became deeply involved with the Linux community. This led him to the corporate world with a number of roles at the Japanese NTT Group. Fernando has held different roles at SBI Group, including Director of SBI VC Trade, CTO of Japannext, CEO of SBI Digi Trust and CEO of SBI Security Solutions.

Idan Ofrat brings two decades of experience in software engineering, cyber-security, and product management. Idan was VP R&D and a founding team member at C4 Security, a company that specializes in critical infrastructure protection and the first ever to build a SCADA firewall, followed by a successful acquisition by Elbit Systems. Prior to that, Idan served in an elite cybersecurity unit in the Israeli Intelligence where he led an Israel Defense Award-winning project. Idan is also a big believer in decentralized technologies. He was a co-founder and CTO at Yeloha, a disruptive platform that aimed to decentralize energy trading, and as VP of Product at Orbs, a public blockchain for high scale apps. Idan Holds BSC. In Computer Science and Management from Tel Aviv University (Magna Cum Laude).

Mr Leong Sing Chiong was appointed as Deputy Managing Director for Markets and Development on 1 February 2021. He oversees the Markets & Investment, Development & International, FinTech & Innovation, as well as Sustainability Groups. Prior to this, Mr Leong served as Assistant Managing Director overseeing the Monetary & Domestic Markets Management Department and the Reserves Management Department since June 2018. He also served as Assistant Managing Director of the Development and International Group from 2013-2018.

Mr Leong began his MAS career with the Reserves Management Department in 1993 and served as Staff Assistant to the Managing Director from 1997-1998. In 1999, he joined the Monetary Management Division and was responsible for the implementation of MAS’ monetary policy and money market operations. Thereafter, Mr Leong was appointed Chief Representative of MAS’ London Representative Office from 2002-2004. Mr Leong spent six years with the International Department from 2004-2010 and was appointed as the Executive Director of Financial Centre Development Department from 2010-2013.

Mr Leong is a recipient of the Public Administration Medal (Silver). He holds a B.Sc Economics (Monetary Economics) from the London School of Economics and is married with two children.

Mathias is a Co-Founder and Group CEO of Sygnum. Prior to Sygnum, he was General Manager at RNT Associates, Mr. Ratan N. Tata’s personal investment platform, which he joined as the first team member. He led multiple venture capital and private equity investments and participated in blockchain and DLT-related equity deals globally.

Mathias started his career at Bain & Company where he led advisory projects for private equity funds, family offices and technology companies.

He holds a PhD from the University of St. Gallen and a Master of Science from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Nicolas de Skowronski is an Executive Board Member and Head of Wealth Management Solutions at Julius Baer & Co Ltd. He joined the Julius Bär Group in 2003 and has held a range of senior positions including leading the Geneva Investment Advisory Unit, heading the Investment Advisory Group, Chief of Staff and Head of Global Client Solutions to his present role which he started in 2016. Nicolas graduated,from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, with a master degree in Physics, specialising in Numerical Simulation. He is also a Certified International Investment Analyst. Nicolas is passionate about innovation and technology. 

Ondřej is a Czech MEP, member of the Renew Europe political group. He is a member of the Economics and Monetary Affairs Committee, and in that capacity is the Chairman of the Working Group for Access to Finance for SMEs. He also sits on two further committees, Transport and Tourism, and Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.

In the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, his portfolio extends from SME financing to the research and the practical use of new technologies, for example those based on artificial intelligence, as well as broader access and use of digital finance, including digital assets for businesses and consumers. He held the role of negotiator and spokesperson for his political group on the EU's Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation

His career to date has been dedicated to public service, primarily in various roles within the Czech civil service, but also in European public administration specifically, at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Government, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ottawa, the Czech Ministry of Defence and the European Parliament.

Puneet is Managing Director and Head of Digital Assets for Citi Institutional Client Group.

As part of his responsibilities, he is leading Blockchain and Digital Asset initiatives across the business. He is leading the efforts in assessing and driving engagement in the Digital Asset space. His team provides subject matter expertise, drives product development and defines distinct strategy on digital asset opportunities including new products, new clients, and new investments. Puneet also leads the ICG’s engagement with stakeholders such as clients, fintechs and central banks, on digital asset opportunities.

Puneet has worked at Citi across the developed and emerging markets in various management roles within Markets & Securities Services and Trade & Transaction Services businesses. His roles have included leading Citi Financial Markets Infrastructure Team, Citi Global Clearing Payments Product, Citi Foreign Exchange Prime & Derivative Clearing Product Management, Trade Finance and Asset Backed Finance.

Puneet Singhvi has been serving on the boards of LCH ForexClear and DTCC DerivServ.

He has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Jai Narain Vyas University. He completed his Master’s in business management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

René Michau is Global Head of Digital Assets and is responsible for coordinating the strategic approach across Standard Chartered and SC Ventures, aligning innovation and capability delivery to provide clients with safe access to digital asset solutions. René also leads the development of crypto trading, broking, and custody and co-chairs the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) Digital Finance Institutional Crypto Working Group and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Digital Assets Forum.

René is a strong advocate for fintech innovation and dedicates his time collaborating with fintechs on community meetups, podcasts, academic research and speaking engagements. René is passionate about the empowerment of the amazing women in crypto and fintech.

René Michau is Global Head of Digital Assets and is responsible for coordinating the strategic approach across Standard Chartered and SC Ventures, aligning innovation and capability delivery to provide clients with safe access to digital asset solutions. René also leads the development of crypto trading, broking, and custody and co-chairs the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) Digital Finance Institutional Crypto Working Group and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Digital Assets Forum.

René is a strong advocate for fintech innovation and dedicates his time collaborating with fintechs on community meetups, podcasts, academic research and speaking engagements. René is passionate about the diversity and inclusion with a specific focus on empowerment of women in crypto and fintech.

Roman Regelman is Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Securities Services and Digital. He is a member of BNY Mellon’s Executive Committee.

Securities Services includes Asset Servicing and Issuer Services, which comprises the Corporate Trust and Depositary Receipts businesses. As CEO of Securities Services, Roman focuses on product strategy and development to accelerate the transformation of Securities Services into a more data- and analytics-led business. He is responsible for driving end-to-end delivery of solutions to our Asset Servicing and Corporate Trust and Depositary Receipts clients.

As Head of Digital, Roman sets the direction for the firm’s digital future and drives investments in our digital capabilities, including data management, analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics.

Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Roman took on senior leadership roles that spanned Chief Operating Officer, Chief Digital Officer, Head of Transformation and Head of Customer Journeys. He was a partner and managing director of Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he co-led its Financial Institutions Digital business and led Customer Journey, North American Financial Institutions Operations and Lean Practices. At BCG, he ran numerous financial institution and service company transformations, including end-to-end customer journeys, process digitization, Agile, restructuring technology and operations. Prior to BCG, he worked at Booz and Company, Bain & Company, NerveWire/Wipro, Mitchell Madison Group, One Core, GTE/BBN and Gazeta Distribution.

Roman earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from St. Petersburg State Technical University, St. Petersburg, Russia and a Master of Business Administration from Olin Graduate Business School at Babson College, Wellesley, Mass. He is a recognized author and thought leader on digital and financial services industry topics.

Sandra is a proponent for ‘human-centric tech’. From investment banking and currency markets to blockchain technology, she is an early investor and advocate of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. She currently serves as the CEO of the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC), the world’s largest leading Swiss-based non-for-profit association with more than 500 institutional members, 231 ambassadors, across 109 jurisdictions and disciplines.

In 2019, she was appointed as the Senate representative of the New York State Digital Currency Task Force, and serves on the AIFC Fintech Council (Kazakhstan), World Economic Forum’s Digital Currencies Governance Consortium, International Securities Services Association’s DLT & ISO Standards, GI Trust FATF Travel Rule Standards Task Force (South Korea), GBBC’s Global Standards Mapping Initiative, Blockchain for Climate (BxC) Board, Salesforce’s Web3 Advisory Board, Filecoin Foundation Advisory Board, and UN World Food Programme Innovation Accelerator Advisory Council.Sandra was a founding member of many of the earliest blockchain associations including Hyperledger Foundation, The Linux Foundation, the Post Trade Distributed Ledger Group (PTDL) and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA).

She is a frequent guest lecturer at universities discussing topics from fintech to data privacy and harnessing emerging technologies to solve real world problems and has testified in front of governments including the U.S. Senate Committee - Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry, UK House of Lords, Economic Affairs Committee, European Parliament, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, in both closed door and public forums.

Whilst at CME Group, she headed FX & Metals Research & Product Development and founded a new business unit, Digitization. Sandra and her team created the CME CF Bitcoin pricing index and reference rate, CME Bitcoin Futures, and post trade, clearing and settlement solutions as well as filing the first set of crypto derivatives patents with the USPTO. Sandra was one of the corporate digital asset pioneers to recognize the potential of this technology and its many applications; she presented at one of the first CFTC Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) on the potential of blockchain technology on February 23, 2016. Previously, she was a London-based derivatives banker at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank in the foreign exchange and interest rate markets.

Sandra holds a M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from London Business School, studied Computer Science at Columbia University, School of Continuing Studies and earned a double B.A. degree from Yale University in History (Military) and Studies in the Environment.

Prior to joining the Board of the Algorand Foundation, Staci ran the Global Market Development practice at the Milken Institute, where she led its work on capital market development, crypto/blockchain solutions, and innovative finance to promote the sustainable development goals. Prior to Milken, Staci ran JPMorgan’s EMEA public sector practice out of London. Before JPMorgan, she led the Nasdaq’s two markets for microcap companies, and in the public and non-profit sectors had senior roles at the U.S. Treasury Department, the Center for Global Development, and the Harvard Institute for International Development.

Staci has done business in more than 50 countries and has advised and spoken widely on the potential for cryptocurrencies and blockchain to solve real-world problems, and for financial innovation to improve inclusion and reduce global poverty. In addition to the Algorand Foundation, she sits on the Boards of the Global Blockchain Business Council, the Rwandan Capital Market Authority, and the Energy for Growth Hub.  She also serves on the advisory committees of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the European Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee (STOA), the U.S. Financial Technology Association, and Evolution Environmental Asset Management.