TechCrunch Sessions: Crypto 2022
November 17, 2022 — Miami
Speakers
Alex Adelman
Co-founder & CEO Lolli
Pratima Arora
Chief Product Officer Chainalysis
Kathleen Breitman
Co-founder Tezos
Colin Butler
Global Head of Institutional Capital Polygon Technology
Amy Caiazza
Partner and Practice Group Leader, Fintech & Financial Services Wilson Sonsini
Jonathan Chan
Of Counsel, Corporate Wilson Sonsini
Katherine Dowling
General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer Bitwise Asset Managment, Inc.
Devin Finzer
Co-founder & CEO OpenSea
Pascal Gauthier
Chairman & CEO LEDGER
Zenobia Godschalk
SVP of Communications Swirlds Labs
Chris Jones
Head of Business and Development MetaJuice
Magdalena "Mags" Kala
Founder & General Partner Double Down
Mina Khattak
Sr. Director, Vertical Growth, Crypto &Web3, Worldpay from FIS Worldpay
Wen-Wen Lam
Partner Gradient Ventures
Devin Lewtan
Co-founder & CEO Mad Realities
Neel Maitra
Partner, Fintech & Financial Services Wilson Sonsini
Natalia Mazzuchelli
Strategic Partner Success Manager ImmutableX
Scott McKinney
Partner, Technology Transactions Wilson Sonsini
Brandon Millman
Co-founder & CEO Phantom
Alex Mogul
Director Republic Crypto
Connor Murray
Head of Protocol Stability, Bitcoin Association for BSV, and Co-founder & CEO of True Reviews
Will Nuelle
General Partner, Ventures Galaxy
Siraj Raval
Developer Education Polygon Technology
Tom Schmidt
General Partner Dragonfly
Sarah Shtylman
Partner Perkins Coie LLP
Justin Slaughter
Policy Director Paradigm
Nikil Viswanathan
Co-founder & CEO Alchemy
John Wu
President Ava Labs, Inc.
Changpeng (CZ) Zhao
Founder & CEO Binance
Alex Adelman is the CEO & Co-founder of Lolli, the leading bitcoin rewards application that lets people earn bitcoin when they shop online and in-store from 1,000+ top merchants. Alex was previously the CEO & Co-founder of Cosmic, the leading e-commerce gateway, which was acquired by PopSugar in ’15 and then by Rakuten in ’17. Alex was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Retail & E-Commerce and his work has been featured on WSJ, Forbes, Fortune, Wired, TechCrunch, Cheddar, MarketWatch, Bitcoin Magazine, and Digiday. Alex holds a BA in Economics from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Alex's Sessions
Building for Normies
The most-hyped decentralized apps have typically been built for crypto speculators or decentralized finance acolytes, but a new breed of products are being crafted with the common internet user in mind. Join us, as we chat with the founders of some of web3’s most exciting consumer apps and pick their brains on mainstream audience opportunities and the challenges of building consumer crypto businesses in a bear market.
Pratima Arora is Chainalysis’ Chief Product Officer. She is a revenue-generating, product-strategy, tech-loving mastermind who is delivering Chainalysis’ blockchain data platform to customers globally. A self-proclaimed geek, she loves to solve the toughest customer problems with simple and intuitive solutions. Pratima has worked with SalesForce and Atlassian and sits on the board of Digitalocean.
Pratima's Sessions
Securing Web3
As blockchain boosters continue to onboard swaths of consumers to their vision of the crypto web, a central question has been how the underlying tech can be optimized to keep these new users safe. We’ll talk to a panel of experts with expertise in blockchains, decentralized apps and protocols on how web3 technologists can build a more secure environment for users.
Kathleen Breitman is the chief operating officer of Tezos, a new blockchain platform currently in development and was a senior strategy associate for R3, a blockchain consortium of more than 50 finance firms.
Kathleen's Sessions
Securing Web3
As blockchain boosters continue to onboard swaths of consumers to their vision of the crypto web, a central question has been how the underlying tech can be optimized to keep these new users safe. We’ll talk to a panel of experts with expertise in blockchains, decentralized apps and protocols on how web3 technologists can build a more secure environment for users.
My utmost goal is to push the boundaries of traditional mindsets and bring innovative landscapes to the foreground. Prior to my foray into innovation technology, I put together 18 years of experience in the financial markets, with a background including institutional equity sales and trading, private wealth management, and alternatives marketing. Now, I combine the two and specialize in institutional investment relations and bringing awareness to the growth opportunities on the frontier of blockchain technology.
Colin's Sessions
The Future of Finance
In this session, Polygon, a leading Ethereum scaling platform, will discuss why DeFi remains superior to CeFi, how Polygon is empowering DeFi developers and Polygon’s approach to tackle liquidity and new users via partnerships with Stripe, Robinhood, Nubank and many more.
Amy Caiazza is a securities, fintech and blockchain partner in the Washington, DC, office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. She is the leader of the firm’s fintech and financial services group, advising clients on regulatory and transactional matters involving securities and commodities laws.
Amy's Sessions
Keeping It Legal
The legal issues associated with crypto and Web3 are complex. Tech companies may need to consider balancing the ethos of the blockchain industry with protecting their revenue models and reducing regulatory risk. How are they structuring financings – with equity or tokens or both? How can they protect their IP in an open-source world? What contracts do they need with customers and service partners? And what are the best ways to operate within regulatory uncertainty and an anticipated wave of enforcement actions? Leading attorneys from a variety of practice groups at Wilson Sonsini, one of the pathbreaking law firms in the crypto space, will address these and other questions, including questions from the audience.
Jonathan Chan serves as corporate counsel to dozens of crypto companies and investors in formation and financing matters at Wilson Sonsini. Jonathan was previously a co-founder and COO of a fintech startup and senior director of business development at Electronic Arts.
Jonathan's Sessions
Keeping It Legal
The legal issues associated with crypto and Web3 are complex. Tech companies may need to consider balancing the ethos of the blockchain industry with protecting their revenue models and reducing regulatory risk. How are they structuring financings – with equity or tokens or both? How can they protect their IP in an open-source world? What contracts do they need with customers and service partners? And what are the best ways to operate within regulatory uncertainty and an anticipated wave of enforcement actions? Leading attorneys from a variety of practice groups at Wilson Sonsini, one of the pathbreaking law firms in the crypto space, will address these and other questions, including questions from the audience.
Katherine Dowling is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Bitwise Asset Management. She previously served in General Counsel, CCO, and COO roles at several financial and private equity firms, and was a co-founder, GP, Managing Director and COO of Luminate Capital Partners, a software private equity firm in San Francisco. A Harvard Law graduate, Katherine spent over a decade as a federal prosecutor, most recently in the Economic Crimes Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, where she worked with the FBI, SEC, IRS and other agencies to prosecute insider trading, fraud, and money laundering cases, among others. She also serves on the boards of two non-profit organizations.
Katherine's Sessions
Is Crypto Regulation Ready?
As crypto markets continue to gain mainstream adoption, regulators globally are watching the young industry with laser focus. But which crypto companies, protocols and projects will be compliant within the current regulatory framework? And how will the crypto industry respond when government agencies start providing new guidelines? We talk to some of the brightest people in the space who will dig into what regulation means for the industry in 2022.
Devin Finzer is an American entrepreneur and technology executive. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of OpenSea. Inspired by the release of CryptoKitties, Devin and Alex Atallah founded OpenSea in December 2017. Prior to founding OpenSea, Devin founded Claimdog, which was acquired by Credit Karma. He has also worked as a software engineer for Pinterest.
Devin's Sessions
A Non-Fungible Empire
Few in the crypto space saw the explosive adoption of NFTs happening this quickly this soon, but NFT marketplace startup OpenSea, which was founded back in 2017, was waiting in the wings. Fast forward to present day, and there have been tens of billions of dollars in NFT transaction volume with OpenSea handling the lion’s share of those sales. CEO Devin Finzer has so far fended off marketplace competitors from well-funded public behemoths and upstart threats, but can the $13.3 billion startup hold its lead through a bear market?
Pascal started his career at Kelkoo, a price comparison service acquired by Yahoo for EUR 475 million in 2004. He then joined the advertising company Criteo in 2008 where he worked for five years as COO, being instrumental in the pivot to advertising, which led to the company’s global expansion towards a EUR 2.17 billion market capitalisation. Currently Chairman and CEO of Ledger, the world leading actor in securing critical digital assets, Pascal Gauthier is a “serial entrepreneur”, responsible for a significant number of key successful scaleups. Before being Chairman and CEO at Ledger (currently valued at 1.5 billion dollars), Pascal worked as a Venture Partner in Mosaic Ventures, a London-based venture capital firm focusing on Series A stage companies. Pascal is also currently a non- executive chairman of Kaiko, a digital assets financial data provider.
Pascal's Sessions
Securing Web3
As blockchain boosters continue to onboard swaths of consumers to their vision of the crypto web, a central question has been how the underlying tech can be optimized to keep these new users safe. We’ll talk to a panel of experts with expertise in blockchains, decentralized apps and protocols on how web3 technologists can build a more secure environment for users.
Zenobia has over 20 years of experience in high tech PR and helping companies create and dominate new categories, and is the Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications for Hedera at Swirlds Labs. Previously, she was a sell-side analyst with investment bank Morgan Keegan, where she was part of The Wall Street Journal’s #1 Ranked Software Analyst team. Prior to this, she served as the head of corporate communications for Opsware Inc (NASDAQ: OPSW), founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, which was acquired by HP for $1.6B. Zenobia graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Economics and Psychology, minor in Industrial Engineering.
Zenobia's Sessions
Bringing DeFi to the Masses: How Do We Make DeFi a Seamless, Easy Reality for Millions of Users Who Aren’t Crypto Experts?
Currently, 72 percent of the world’s population has, or will soon have, access to instant payments, according to the 2022 Worldpay from FIS Global Payments Report. Many markets are also replacing or renovating their established real-time services to cater to instant payments. What does it take to onboard these users to a Web3-first, DeFi world? How simple must it be, and how quickly can we get there? This session will address these questions and more, from the perspective of one of the world’s largest payment firms.
Chris Jones is an internationally recognized blockchain expert and technology veteran. He is presently Head of Business Development at Metajuice, the crypto subsidiary of Together Labs, a metaverse games company.
Chris's Sessions
Creating a True, User-Led Metaverse
The metaverse provides a virtual space that connects people, worlds, and communities. A place where users can exchange currency and goods between themselves, not the company behind the platform. As the internet evolves, we hold the responsibility to create platforms that encompass diversity and inclusion, ownership of data, security, and sustainability. As leaders in this space, how do we create an environment that allows users and creators to explore their imaginations and earning potential without limits?
Magdalena “Mags” Kala is the founder of Double Down, an early-stage venture fund investing at the intersection of web3 and consumer culture. She is passionate about consumer behavior, brand building, and mainstream adoption of web3. In addition to Double Down, Mags runs Metacurious, a community for marketers interested in web3. Previously, she spent a decade in cross-stage consumer investing at Bain Capital Private Equity and Pags Group. Mags has also led new initiatives for top brands such as Snapchat, Virgin, and Boston Celtics.
Magdalena "Mags"'s Sessions
Keeping the Web3 Dream Funded
Billions in capital were raised by crypto native funds and web3 VCs during an unprecedented bull run, but as the crypto markets turn bearish, how will investors keep their web3 dream alive? We talk to some of the most influential investors in the crypto space about which potential bets are too early, too late and right on time.
Mina Khattak is currently Sr. Director, Vertical Growth, Crypto &Web3, Worldpay from FIS. Based in New York, Mina is responsible for leading strategy and go-to-market efforts in the cryptocurrency space including partnerships, marketing, events, thought leadership product roadmap and other related topics. Previously, Mina was a leader on Worldpay’s strategy team for its market-leading Global Enterprise eCommerce business unit where she focused on payment facilitator and marketplace business models. Prior to joining Worldpay in 2020, Mina was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in the Middle East. Mina completed her undergraduate degree at the National University of Singapore before pursuing an MBA at the University of Oxford. Mina is a Schwarzman Scholar and recipient of the United Kingdom’s Global Talent Visa for exceptional talent in digital technology.
Mina's Sessions
Bringing DeFi to the Masses: How Do We Make DeFi a Seamless, Easy Reality for Millions of Users Who Aren’t Crypto Experts?
Currently, 72 percent of the world’s population has, or will soon have, access to instant payments, according to the 2022 Worldpay from FIS Global Payments Report. Many markets are also replacing or renovating their established real-time services to cater to instant payments. What does it take to onboard these users to a Web3-first, DeFi world? How simple must it be, and how quickly can we get there? This session will address these questions and more, from the perspective of one of the world’s largest payment firms.
Wen-Wen is a partner at Gradient Ventures. Previously, Wen-Wen was the CEO & Co-founder of NexTravel (YCW15), a leading corporate travel solution that serviced thousands of customers like Lyft, Twilio, and Stripe. She grew the business to over $100M in annual sales before exiting to Travelperk in 2020. Before this, Wen-Wen worked with startups in leadership roles. She started her career in tech at LinkedIn. She received her BA from UC Berkeley in Economics and her MBA from USC Marshall School of Business.
Wen-Wen's Sessions
TechCrunch Crypto Pitch-off
The industry’s brightest entrepreneurs will take the stage in front of a live audience and a panel of industry experts, pitching revolutionary technologies.
Devin Lewtan is the co-founder and CEO of Mad Realities, audience-owned TV, starting with an interactive Reality TV network where the audience votes on cast, shows, and more via holding an NFT. Mad Realities aims to be the web3 brand for Gen Z and shift the paradigm of how content is funded, created, and distributed. Before Mad Realities, Devin was a product engineer at Sequoia backed Clay.run and a founder of the viral Clubhouse show, Shoot your Shot: NYU Girls Roasting Tech Guys, an interactive dating show — or as they called it “a bar simulation” that took over the app peak pandemic.
Devin's Sessions
Building for Normies
The most-hyped decentralized apps have typically been built for crypto speculators or decentralized finance acolytes, but a new breed of products are being crafted with the common internet user in mind. Join us, as we chat with the founders of some of web3’s most exciting consumer apps and pick their brains on mainstream audience opportunities and the challenges of building consumer crypto businesses in a bear market.
Neel Maitra is a corporate partner and member of the securities regulatory and complex transactions group in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he advises clients on the comprehensive and unique range of matters that concern the blockchain, crypto, and fintech industries. He is an expert on the complex and fast-evolving regulatory landscape of digital assets and other cutting-edge financial technologies. Prior to joining the firm, Neel was a senior special counsel and the crypto specialist in the Division of Trading and Markets at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Neel became one of the agency’s key experts on a range of crypto issues and developments, including initial coin offerings, broker-dealer regulation of cryptocurrency companies, and innovative trading platforms.
Neel's Sessions
Keeping It Legal
The legal issues associated with crypto and Web3 are complex. Tech companies may need to consider balancing the ethos of the blockchain industry with protecting their revenue models and reducing regulatory risk. How are they structuring financings – with equity or tokens or both? How can they protect their IP in an open-source world? What contracts do they need with customers and service partners? And what are the best ways to operate within regulatory uncertainty and an anticipated wave of enforcement actions? Leading attorneys from a variety of practice groups at Wilson Sonsini, one of the pathbreaking law firms in the crypto space, will address these and other questions, including questions from the audience.
Natalia leads the Partner Success team in the Americas for Immutable and is responsible for building the strategy for partners to drive value across these relationships. Additionally, she is on the board of Team4Tech, a non-for-profit accelerator with the aim to improve the quality of education for under-resourced learners by building nonprofit capacity through technology and training. Natalia is a seasoned professional with 15+ years of sales, marketing, and partnership experience. Natalia recently joined Immutable from Coinbase, where she led the NFT Success Team and was responsible for building a team which provides a white-glove experience to some of the most prominent NFT creators in the space. In her past experience at Meta, as the Head of Global Vertical Solutions, she led a cross-functional team and oversaw product, sales, creative, measurement, and research activities to optimize expansion across the company’s largest vertical.
Natalia's Sessions
Creating a True, User-Led Metaverse
The metaverse provides a virtual space that connects people, worlds, and communities. A place where users can exchange currency and goods between themselves, not the company behind the platform. As the internet evolves, we hold the responsibility to create platforms that encompass diversity and inclusion, ownership of data, security, and sustainability. As leaders in this space, how do we create an environment that allows users and creators to explore their imaginations and earning potential without limits?
Scott McKinney is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he is a member of the firm’s technology transactions practice. He represents companies of all sizes in complex commercial and technology transactions and advises technology companies and their investors at all stages of company development, from pioneering start-ups to leading global enterprises. Scott focuses his practice on new and emerging technologies, including blockchain, smart contracts, NFTs, the metaverse, AI, robotics, autonomous vehicles, machine learning, e-gaming, fintech, digital payments, cryptocurrency, digital health, and other new technologies. He is also a professor at Columbia Law School, where he teaches a class he created on new and emerging technologies, including NFTs, the metaverse, blockchain and smart contracts.
Scott's Sessions
Keeping It Legal
The legal issues associated with crypto and Web3 are complex. Tech companies may need to consider balancing the ethos of the blockchain industry with protecting their revenue models and reducing regulatory risk. How are they structuring financings – with equity or tokens or both? How can they protect their IP in an open-source world? What contracts do they need with customers and service partners? And what are the best ways to operate within regulatory uncertainty and an anticipated wave of enforcement actions? Leading attorneys from a variety of practice groups at Wilson Sonsini, one of the pathbreaking law firms in the crypto space, will address these and other questions, including questions from the audience.
Brandon Millman is the CEO and co-founder of Phantom, a crypto wallet that is becoming the cross-platform web3 gateway for mainstream consumers. Phantom set a new UX and UI standard for web3 users, and has become the fastest-growing crypto wallet in history. Prior to founding Phantom, Millman led the growth of the engineering teams at 0x, a decentralized exchange for trading ERC-20 tokens that facilitated billions of dollars of trade volume per week. Before crypto, Millman was a senior engineer at Twitter and worked on many product teams spanning recommendations, infrastructure and Twitter for iOS.
Brandon's Sessions
Building for Normies
The most-hyped decentralized apps have typically been built for crypto speculators or decentralized finance acolytes, but a new breed of products are being crafted with the common internet user in mind. Join us, as we chat with the founders of some of web3’s most exciting consumer apps and pick their brains on mainstream audience opportunities and the challenges of building consumer crypto businesses in a bear market.
Alexandra Mogul is the Head of Staking & Infrastructure Solutions at Republic Crypto, where she connects stakeable asset holders to the proprietary technology behind R/Crypto Runtime. Prior to launching Runtime, Alexandra led Republic Crypto’s Token Offerings business, empowering token issuers to access US and non-US capital markets compliantly. An Amazon veteran and a builder at heart, Alexandra lives her life by the mantra that anyone can learn anything. She hails from Chicago and currently resides in Manhattan.
Alex's Sessions
Creating a True, User-Led Metaverse
The metaverse provides a virtual space that connects people, worlds, and communities. A place where users can exchange currency and goods between themselves, not the company behind the platform. As the internet evolves, we hold the responsibility to create platforms that encompass diversity and inclusion, ownership of data, security, and sustainability. As leaders in this space, how do we create an environment that allows users and creators to explore their imaginations and earning potential without limits?
Connor Murray is the Content Creator for the Blockchain Academy SV, and co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of True Reviews, a blockchain-based review platform that allows users to monetize online reviews through microtransactions. Connor is a longtime Bitcoin advocate who has focused on producing freely-available educational Bitcoin content.
Connor's Sessions
Someone Stole Your Bitcoin…Now What?
As high-profile crypto and NFT thefts continue to haunt wary investors who are already navigating a harsh crypto winter, robust security developments are growing increasingly more important. Fortunately for investors and business owners alike, there is finally a way to protect digital assets against the worst-case scenario.This session will cover how, for the first time ever, bitcoin can be frozen and recovered through the DAR Process – a Digital Asset Recovery Process that makes it possible for property rights to be enforced to recover stolen or lost bitcoin. Join this discussion on how this is the first, crucial step toward safeguarding all digital assets against theft and scams within the rule of law, how investors can use this tool, and how platforms can easily adopt this process to better protect users.
Will focuses on early-stage investments in protocol layer infrastructure, DeFi applications, and software products. Before leading investments, Will supported the firm’s research function and built quantitative risk software for the trading business. Prior to joining the firm, he worked on data science for the Ethereum protocol FOAM. He holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Architecture from Stanford University. Will has led several investments for Galaxy since 2019, including Aleo, Axelar, Celestia, Centrifuge, Gensyn, and Risc Zero.
Will's Sessions
TechCrunch Crypto Pitch-off
The industry’s brightest entrepreneurs will take the stage in front of a live audience and a panel of industry experts, pitching revolutionary technologies.
Siraj is a Developer Educator at Polygon. He’s also a Youtube AI/ML Educator, Serial Entrepreneur, and Author of “Decentralized Applications” (O”Reilly). His mission is to create great explanations of the most difficult concepts in math, code, & data.
Siraj's Sessions
Robo-taxis in the Metaverse
How does autonomous transportation operate in the Meta-verse? In this session, we’ll build a autonomous car in a simulated environment using computer vision and path planning algorithms. Then, we’ll integrate a Polygon wallet with the car, so that the car is able to extend its autonomy to not only drive itself, but pay for its own repairs, maintenance, and upgrades.
Tom Schmidt is a General Partner at Dragonfly. Previously, he led product at 0x and worked as a Product Manager at Facebook and Instagram. Tom holds a degree in Computer Science from Stanford.
Tom's Sessions
Keeping the Web3 Dream Funded
Billions in capital were raised by crypto native funds and web3 VCs during an unprecedented bull run, but as the crypto markets turn bearish, how will investors keep their web3 dream alive? We talk to some of the most influential investors in the crypto space about which potential bets are too early, too late and right on time.
Sarah Shtylman advises innovators in the fintech and blockchain industries, and her clients range from entrepreneurs and startups to big tech and regulated financial institutions. With experience in both financial services regulatory issues and in transactional matters, Sarah counsels on a variety of regulatory, commercial, compliance, and product development projects—including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), regulated digital asset platforms, in-game currencies, and payment services integrations. She provides actionable regulatory assessments that drive product development, marketing, and regulatory licensing strategies. Sarah also drafts and negotiates the commercial agreements, vendor contracts, and terms of service that support her clients’ product launches. Sarah is well versed in state and federal financial services regulations, particularly related to payments and money transmission. She has advised clients through the application and compliance processes for state and federal trust charters, money transmission licensing and registration, and lending licenses. Sarah has engaged directly with state and federal regulators to discuss the applicability of various financial services regulatory regimes to emerging blockchain technology platforms and protocols that her clients are developing. Sarah also frequently supports her clients in matters related to marketplace payments, the issuance of application-specific virtual currencies, points and rewards programs, stored value devices, and other in-app value systems or payment mechanisms. On behalf of multiple international companies, Sarah has negotiated co-brand card deals, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) payments integrations, and other significant payment processing arrangements. She represents both investors and emerging companies in financings, particularly on diligence questions related to payments integrations and money services regulatory concerns.
Sarah's Sessions
Is Crypto Regulation Ready?
As crypto markets continue to gain mainstream adoption, regulators globally are watching the young industry with laser focus. But which crypto companies, protocols and projects will be compliant within the current regulatory framework? And how will the crypto industry respond when government agencies start providing new guidelines? We talk to some of the brightest people in the space who will dig into what regulation means for the industry in 2022.
Justin Slaughter is the Policy Director at Paradigm. Prior to joining Paradigm, Justin was Director of the office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs and Senior Advisor to Acting Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Allison Herren Lee. Justin has also served as Chief Policy Advisor and Special Counsel to former Commissioner Sharon Bowen at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and General Counsel to Senator Edward J. Markey. Justin has also served as a consultant in private practice focusing on fintech and smaller technology companies, and he began his career as a law clerk to Judge Jerome Farris on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Justin has a B.A. from Columbia University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.
Justin's Sessions
Is Crypto Regulation Ready?
As crypto markets continue to gain mainstream adoption, regulators globally are watching the young industry with laser focus. But which crypto companies, protocols and projects will be compliant within the current regulatory framework? And how will the crypto industry respond when government agencies start providing new guidelines? We talk to some of the brightest people in the space who will dig into what regulation means for the industry in 2022.
Nikil Viswanathan is the co-founder and CEO of Alchemy, the world’s leading blockchain developer platform valued at more than $10 billion dollars. Alchemy powers over $150 billion in transactions globally including the entire NFT industry and majority of top blockchain companies. Alchemy is backed by top investors including Coatue, a16z, Lightspeed, Silver Lake, Pantera and many more. Nikil received his BS and MS in Computer Science from Stanford, and formerly did product management at Google, Microsoft, and Facebook. A serial entrepreneur, he co-created the #1 social app in the world, Down To Lunch, and was named Forbes 30 Under 30.Nikil Viswanathan is the co-founder and CEO of Alchemy, the world’s leading blockchain developer platform valued at more than $10 billion dollars. Alchemy powers over $150 billion in transactions globally including the entire NFT industry and majority of top blockchain companies. Alchemy is backed by top investors including Coatue, a16z, Lightspeed, Silver Lake, Pantera and many more. Nikil received his BS and MS in Computer Science from Stanford, and formerly did product management at Google, Microsoft, and Facebook. A serial entrepreneur, he co-created the #1 social app in the world, Down To Lunch, and was named Forbes 30 Under 30.
Nikil's Sessions
Crypto's on Fire But Devs Are Still Building
The crypto world is full of volatile moments and heavy market swings, but in between it all: developers are still building. But what’s really happening behind the scenes? When the whole crypto world is seemingly focused on the currently imploding market, what are developers focused on creating and scaling? Where do they see the future of web3 and how can these developers and builders alike prevent their own projects from facing an unwanted death?
John Wu is President of Ava Labs, an Andresseen Horowitz backed technology company building the next-generation blockchain platform: Avalanche. John’s objective is to open up financial services and products to all. In this role, he leverages his expertise from over 20 years as a fintech executive and technology investor to create a blockchain-enabled solution for originating, issuing, and trading financial assets. John was previously CEO of the SharesPost Digital Assets Group, enabling compliant token trading of private shares and funds. Prior to that, he was a technology investor and the founder of Sureview Capital, a global hedge fund backed by the Blackstone Group. John began his investment career at Tiger Management, before managing a global technology portfolio at Kingdon Capital. Education: John received his MBA from Harvard University and holds a BS in Economics from Cornell University.
John's Sessions
Fundraising in a Crypto Winter
The days of flashy deal terms for pre-product crypto startups may be a thing of the past as the industry stares down an uncertain next few years. We talk with a number of veteran crypto founders on how young founders can keep a steady source of funding during the bear market and what their investors might like to see.
Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, is the CEO and Founder of Binance, the leading blockchain ecosystem behind the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Raised and educated in Canada, CZ started his career at Bloomberg Tradebook where he developed futures trading software for Wall Street. He then founded Fusion Systems which built high-frequency systems for brokers. Before launching Binance in July 2017, he was involved in various cryptocurrency companies, including serving as Head of Technology for Blockchain.info (now known as Blockchain.com), the first bitcoin blockchain explorer. As an engineer who developed trading software for traditional financial platforms and the son of a professor who was exiled from China, CZ is passionate about the transparency and efficiency of crypto. In 2020, CZ was recognized in Bloomberg 50 as one of the most influential people of the year who has changed the global business landscape. CZ studied computer science at Montreal’s McGill University.
Changpeng (CZ)'s Sessions
Building a Blockchain Behemoth
Binance is the largest crypto exchange in the world, and its founder and CEO, Chinese-Canadian billionaire Changpeng Zhao, is so well-known that he’s often referred to by his initials alone – “CZ.” Binance’s scale has attracted scrutiny from regulators across the globe, yet the exchange has managed to maintain a cult-like popularity among its customers. Zhao will give us a rare peek behind the curtain at Binance, sharing his insights on what it takes to run the company in a choppy market and his biggest hopes, fears and predictions about its future in this virtual interview.