YBlockchain? for Business and Society

WATCH the livestream of the event

Tuesday, October 1^st at 4:30pm

Join us for a discussion on the impact of blockchain technology in business.  Across civilizations, business and financial innovations have been closely linked with social developments.  In light of the excitement around blockchain technology, and the fact that most innovations fail, we will explore what would make this technology sustainable in the long run.  This will rely on the right regulations, business models, and overall economic incentives.

This conference is part of a larger YBlockchain? series of discussions that will take place over the academic year. Each session will focus on a different theme within blockchain and will be presented through a variety of panels and keynote addresses by leading practitioners and academics in the field.

The event will start promptly at 4:30pm in classroom 2400 at the Yale School of Management.

We hope to see you there!

Speakers

• Jeff Bandman

  CEO, BlockAgent
  Speaker
  

  Jeff Bandman is Founder and CEO of BlockAgent Inc., an independent SEC-registered transfer agent focused on blockchain-based digital securities. BlockAgent is the new regulated market infrastructure bringing trust and compliance to digital securities. He is also Founder and Principal of Bandman Advisors, an advisory practice helping clients ranging from start-ups to global firms meet strategic innovation and regulatory challenges to find new business opportunities. Bandman Advisors bridges the gap between business and regulation. Jeff is widely recognized as a thought leader, speaker and educator on blockchain and cryptoasset law, regulation and policy. He is co-Founder and Board Member of the Global Digital Finance policy initiative and leads its regulatory engagement globally. As Lecturer in Global Affairs at Yale, he taught the seminar on blockchain, cryptoassets and public policy in the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs in the 2018-2019 academic year. He is a member of the RegTech Council and acts as FinTech regulation mentor for the Techstars Barclays FinTech Accelerator. Jeff is an Industry Fellow of the University of Nicosia Blockchain Initiative and Research Fellow of the Blockchain for Algorithmic Regulation and Compliance (BARAC) initiative at University College London's Centre for Blockchain Technologies. Previously, Jeff was a senior official at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2014-2017. As FinTech Advisor to Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, he was Founding Director and architect of LabCFTC, the CFTC's hub for engagement with FinTech innovation (the first launched by a U.S. market regulator). He established and chaired the CFTC blockchain, virtual currencies and FinTech working group from inception in 2015. Jeff led FinTech and RegTech coordination with domestic and international regulators, and led work by international regulators on post-trade digital innovation. Jeff previously led the CFTC's Division of Clearing and Risk, which oversees many of the world’s largest clearinghouses. He led the negotiations resulting in “Clearinghouse Equivalence” with the European Commission. He joined the CFTC as Special Counsel to Chairman Timothy G. Massad, and also led the CFTC’s Office of International Affairs. Jeff worked for many years in the financial industry in New York and London. As Head of Partnerships & Alliances of LCH’s SwapClear, he helped design and launch the SwapClear "FCM service" for clearing interest rate swaps through US intermediaries. He also devised the innovative CCP2 partnership program and led the award-winning SMART margin simulator. Jeff earlier worked on a variety of new market structure and FinTech initiatives, including LiquidityHub and the Project Rainbow consortium. Before that he rebuilt Cantor Fitzgerald’s market data business after the events of September 11. Mr. Bandman started his career as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York, and was Americas General Counsel for Prebon Yamane, now part of the ICAP group. He graduated from Yale magna cum laude, with honors in History and English. He received his law degree from Stanford Law School, with honors as a member of the “Order of the Coif". He is a five-time Jeopardy! Champion and spent his winnings backpacking around Africa, Asia and Europe.

• John D'Agostino

  Managing Director, DMS Governance
  Speaker
  

  John D'Agostino is a Managing Director at the world's largest fund governance firm DMS Governance, where he also serves on the board of companies providing independent oversight. John’s has spent his career in asset management, working with multiple large funds. Prior, he was head of strategy for the New York Mercantile Exchange. His work there was the focus of two NY Times Best Selling books, (Rigged by Ben Mezrich and "The Startup of You" by Reid Hoffman). John is a frequent speaker on next generation fintech including AI and Blockchain, sits on the boards of several blockchain companies (asset managers and exchange), regularly advises global regulators on digital asset regulation and leads a 400+ digital asset industry working group. John is also the chair of the UK Asset Management Committee.

• Kelly LeValley Hunt

  Blockchain Advisor & Venture Partner, XLP Capital
  Speaker
  

  Kelly LeValley Hunt is a thought leader in the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency industry and has over 20 years of experience in the data center space, with software development organizations, telecommunications industry in Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa and North America. In 2017, Kelly invested in and joined BlockApps, a leading blockchain organization, as Global Vice President of Sales. She is the first to negotiate and sign a partnership agreement between a Blockchain organization and Microsoft, Google, AWS and Red Hat as well as the UNOPS. She supports, advises and invests in the Blockchain community. In 2018 Microsoft presented Kelly with the ‘Hypergrowth Innovation Leadership Award’, and in recognition of her being an early investor and leading voice in the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency space, Forbes Magazine recognized her as a “Pioneer” in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency. Kelly is a Venture Partner at XLP Capital Worth Ventures Partners and serves as an advisor to multiple organizations in technology. Kelly is a guest speaker at Yale Business School, Columbia University, Durham University, Warwick Business School and King’s College London. Kelly holds a Masters of Business from Warwick Business School specializing in Entrepreneurial Finance.

• Ken Lang

  Managing Partner & CTO, COSIMO Ventures; Member of the ndau Collective
  Speaker
  

  Ken is a technology visionary and inventor. He is a pioneer in AI and machine learning and invented search-engine methodology and collaborative filtering (e.g. if you like this, you will like that). Ken has successfully developed and commercialized technology throughout his career. As COO of Keane Advisors, he developed new algorithms and technology for trading, asset allocation and private equity. Ken served as CTO of Vringo (renamed Form Holdings NASDAQ:FH) and served on the Board of Directors while teaching as Adjunct Professor of New York University. He developed and founded WiseWire, where he served as CEO, CTO and board member. After WiseWire was sold to Lycos, he served as Lycos’ CTO.

• Sandra Ro

  CEO, Global Blockchain Business Council
  Keynote Speaker
  

  Sandra’s mission is to help those most vulnerable and financially excluded, by harnessing technology for social and economic good. She holds directorships on industry boards and companies including Global Digital Finance (GDF), BitGive (crypto charitable giving), and SendFriend, as well as advises and angel invests in several emerging tech start-ups across blockchain, robotics, digital assets, IoT, VR/AR. She has cofounded tech startups, one focusing on helping rural farmers to provide price transparency in agriculture sector, and another, removing business frictions for independent artists and the GIG economy, Proof of Art. Initially, a founding Board member, Sandra was appointed to CEO of the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) March 2018, a Swiss non-profit focusing on education, advocacy & partnership across over 50 countries. She was appointed and serves on the NYS Digital Currency Task Force, the US Department of State Speakers’ Bureau for blockchain / security, the EU Blockchain Observatory & Forum: Use Cases & Transition Scenarios Working Group, the NYC Blockchain Center, and the Global Blockchain Policy Council (GBPC), founded by bipartisan South Korean Congress. From introvert to avid communicator, Sandra keynotes and educates global audiences across industry and government sectors, including Milken Institute, UK House of Lords – Economic Affairs, US Congress – House Financial Services, SXSW, CFA Society, UVA Darden, JPM EMEA Global Markets, Singapore FinTech, Dreamforce, Banco Central do Brasil, Bloomberg, Necker Island Blockchain Summit and The Economist. Previously, she served as a former Treasurer and founding board director of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) and founding member of the Post Trade Distributed Ledger Group (PTDL), founding member of Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger. Sandra was also founder and former Executive Director, Digitization Head, CME Group, where she was responsible for the company’s digital asset and blockchain/distributed ledger technology (DLT) initiatives, including CME CF Bitcoin futures & index pricing products and post trade solutions. Previously, she served as Head of Foreign Exchange (FX) & Metals Research and Product Development. Ro led the EMEA M&A FX and interest rates derivatives advisory group at Morgan Stanley London and worked at Deutsche Bank London as a FX structurer. Ro holds a M.B.A. in Finance from London Business School, studied Computer Science at Columbia University, School of Continuing Studies and earned a double B.A. Degree in History and Studies in the Environment from Yale University.

• Frances Newton Stacy

  Director of Portfolio Strategy, Optimal Capital
  Speaker
  

  Frances Newton Stacy started her broadcasting career appearing weekly on the Gerry V show on the Rush Radio Network from 2008-2010. There she gained wide appeal and honed her skills for being able to explain a very complex subject matter in simple terms. She then began appearing on the local Fox 5 in Las Vegas. From there in 2010 Frances branched out to appearing regularly on national television. Frances perfectly predicted the stock market crash, which began in October 2007 and is amongst the very few who successfully traded the downturn. She got out of stocks a month before the all time high and simultaneously got into the historic gold trade. Frances also called the market bottom on the Gerry V show in March of 2009 when she warned his audience that the market would go up for a while. Wanting to be able to predict the next credit crisis became Frances’ passion of study. On this journey she studied the banking and credit systems in depth. Frances discovered what has to be present in order to have a credit crisis. She also enjoyed studying the underlying algorithm of our banking system, which has an undeniable mathematical structure that regardless of the market swings is always present and has predictable implications. She is a frequent guest on Fox Business News as a commentator on Central Bank Policy and its effects on the economy. Frances has also appeared on CNBC, CBS and Fox News as well as several local and national television and radio programs. She has blogged for the trading community, helping them recognize key cycles and significant support and resistance levels. She has taught a number of classes for trading students, and spoken extensively on the subject. Frances lives in the Bay Area advising clients across the West Coast as well as nationally. She incorporates her unique research and experience into portfolio construction and management as Director of Portfolio Strategy with Optimal Capital. As an allocator, Frances regularly speaks nationally and internationally at events focusing on quantitative finance as well as those for blockchain enthusiasts. Frances recently spoke at the annual DMS Governance event on interest rates and market cycles.

• David Weild IV

  Chairman & CEO, Weild & Co.
  Keynote Speaker
  

  David Weild IV – David is the founder of Weild & Co., which is working to revolutionize investment banking by harnessing the power of the cloud. One of the fastest growing investment banks (and investment banking networks) in the United States, Weild & Co. attracts and supports proven and independent investment bankers in seventeen (17) states and the District of Columbia. David is a former Vice Chairman of Nasdaq where he worked with luminaries including Steve Jobs (Founder of Apple and Pixar) and Tom Stemberg (Founder of Staples). He ran corporate finance and equity capital markets at a top 10 Wall Street firm, pricing over 1,000 public equity offerings and was directly involved in early deals for Celgene (biotechnology company that has greatly extended lives for patients with multiple myeloma and helped kids with ADHD), NVIDEA (semiconductor company that sparked the growth in the PC gaming market, redefined computer graphics, parallel computing and helped ignite modern Artificial Intelligence including driverless cars), BlackRock (now the largest asset manager in the world), Chesapeake Energy (now a Fortune 500 company in land-based energy that was an early pioneer in horizontal drilling), Patterson-UTI Energy (largest land based drilling company in the US), and many others. He is more recently recognized for thought leadership that led him to be called the “Father of the JOBS Act.” The JOBS Act laid the foundation for forms of crowdfunding, private placements, Reg. A+ public offerings and the basis under which most securities token offerings (STOs) are now done in the U.S. He serves on the board of directors of two (2) companies that are establishing exchanges to trade crypto and tokens (55.com and INX) and is an advisor to Templum, the first ATS that was approved by the SEC to trade tokens as securities in private markets. His investment bank made a decision to treat coin offerings as securities offerings well before SEC Chair Jay Clayton observed that he had not seen an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) that he did not believe was a securities offering. David’s thought leadership has been frequently cited by legislators, regulators, academics, politicians and stock exchanges. He has spoken or testified on stock exchange structure in the US Congress and at the SEC. He has addressed the G-20, OECD (Europe and Asia), the European Federation of Securities Exchanges (Switzerland and Norway) and the Arab Federation of Exchanges in Jordan. Mr. Weild received his B.A. from Wesleyan University and his M.B.A. from New York University Stern School of Business. He also studied at the Sorbonne and on exchange at the Ecoles des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC Paris) and the Stockholm School of Economics (Stockholm, Sweden). Mr. Weild is married and the father of three teenagers.

• Diana Barrero Zalles

  Blockchain Advisor, Yale OpenLab at Tsai CITY
  Conference Organizer & Moderator
  

  Diana has experience in the investment banking offices of the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank: managing $900M+ in corporate deals, funding 27 private ventures, and visualizing big data on global trade to identify 30+ new investment opportunities. Following her MBA at Yale SOM, she became involved in blockchain applications for financial services, with a focus on the regulatory technologies. She's been COO of a regtech startup during the ICO boom, published market research on stablecoins with R3, and has presented on blockchain developments in finance (payments, fundraising, supply chain financing, tokenization, compliance). Diana contributes to working groups to standardize best practices for digital assets. She is coordinating a blockchain discussion series at Yale, to promote meaningful discussion over hype.

Additional Information

• Agenda

  Tuesday, October 1, 2019 | Classroom 2400

  *Times are subject to change

  4:15 pm	Registration
  4:30 pm	Intro to Blockchain Kelly LeValley Hunt, Blockchain Advisor & Venture Partner, XLP Capital
  4:45 pm	Keynote: Tension Between Regulators and Innovators David Weild IV, Chairman & CEO, Weild & Co
  5:15 pm	Panel Discussion: Lessons Learned From Hype & Business Models That Work John D'Agostino, Managing Director, DMS Governance Frances Newton Stacy, Director of Strategy, Optimal Capital Ken Lang, CTO, Cosimo Ventures & Founding Member of ndau Project
  6:00 pm	Break
  6:10 pm	Fireside Chat: Regulatory Issues Jeff Bandman, CEO, BlockAgent
  6:50 pm	Keynote: A Global Perspective Sandra Ro, CEO, Global Blockchain Business Council
  7:10 pm	Closing Remarks
  7:15 pm	Reception