Crypto Hipster

Armel Leslie is an Executive Managing Director at RF|Binder, an integrated marketing communications consultancy that acquired his prior PR agency, Peaks Strategies. He has been in the financial services communications arena for 25+ years with deep experience across the capital markets ecosystem -- including asset and wealth management, financial technology and market structure.

Armel Leslie is an Executive Managing Director at RF|Binder, an integrated marketing communications consultancy that acquired his prior PR agency, Peaks Strategies. He has been in the financial services communications arena for 25+ years with deep experience across the capital markets ecosystem -- including asset and wealth management, financial technology and market structure.

Peter Kris is Co-Founder and CEO of Gasp. He is a DeFi / MEV / L2s / Eigenlayer / AMM maxi. Check @ https://gasp.xyzhttps://twitter.com/uPeterKris

Peter Kris is Co-Founder and CEO of Gasp. He is a DeFi / MEV / L2s / Eigenlayer / AMM maxi. Check @ https://gasp.xyzhttps://twitter.com/uPeterKris

Vitali Dervoed is the CEO of Composability Labs and co-founder of Spark, the world’s first on-chain order book on Ethereum. Vitali is a thought leader in the industry, advocating for the use of Central Limit Order Books (CLOBs) to enhance capital efficiency and attract institutional investors to the DeFi space. His insights on the subject have been featured in prominent publications like Hacker Noon, where he explores advanced trading strategies that could drive DeFi's maturity beyond the capabilities of Automated Market Makers (AMMs).X: @dervoiedk

Mohd Kifa leads the Compliance Department at Flipster ensuring that the business stays on top of things when it comes to Rules, Risks and Controls.

Jakub Ondrášek is the CEO of Clore.AI and boasts an extensive background in developing mining pools for Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. Having first opened a pool in the Monero ecosystem at 12 years old, Jakub went on to operate a cryptocurrency mining farm in his native Czech Republic during his early teens. After observing a scam from a company posing as a GPU marketplace, Jakub leveraged his technical expertise to create the original prototype for Clore.AI within 2 months, launching in December 2022.

Colin Fitzpatrick is a seasoned entrepreneur and technology professional with over 20 years in top tech companies such as Oracle, Salesforce, and Hubspot. A multiple founder having launched a business in web 3 to a $300m market cap and also founded a business in AI building digital humans. Colin is a recognized thought leader in AI and web 3 with over 20,000 followers on LinkedIn. And he's extremely passionate about the space and loves to share and impart his knowledge with everyone.

Georgii Verbitskii is the Founder of TYMIO, a Web3, non-custodial platform designed for crypto investors seeking portfolio protection tools. Built for simplicity, TYMIO offers structured products that make it easy to manage risk and grow wealth in the dynamic world of crypto. With a mission to empower investors of all levels, TYMIO provides innovative solutions like TYMIO Yield and the newly launched TYMIO Protect, catering to shield assets from market volatility. Before TYMIO, Georgii served as the Managing Director for Russia & CIS at eToro Rus, the BizDev Director for Russia & CIS at TradingView, KAM at Thomson Reuters RUS, as a host of the “Markets” show at RBC TV, and ran his own show 'Business Class with Georgy Verbitsky' on Finam-FM. Georgii has over 20 years of senior management experience in business development, more than 17 years in portfolio management, and 5 years in angel investing. LinkedIn Twitter Commentary topics: Financial markets (traditional and crypto) Trading Investment Decentralized Finance: dual investment, crypto portfolio management, options trading, crypto derivatives, wealth & capital management in digital assets Publications: Bitcoin can still hit $100K, no matter who wins US election - article on CoinTelegraph Bitcoin gained 1,900% in Trump’s first term: Will BTC price hit $1M this time? - expert comment on CoinTelegraph Is Bitcoin Entering a Bull Phase? Here’s How to Identify the Signs - expert comment on Cryptonews SEC greenlights spot Ether ETFs, but Ether price shows little movement - expert comment on Crypto.News Memecoins – A Zero-Game With Only One Winner - article on The Daily Hodl

Georgii Verbitskii is the Founder of TYMIO, a Web3, non-custodial platform designed for crypto investors seeking portfolio protection tools. Built for simplicity, TYMIO offers structured products that make it easy to manage risk and grow wealth in the dynamic world of crypto. With a mission to empower investors of all levels, TYMIO provides innovative solutions like TYMIO Yield and the newly launched TYMIO Protect, catering to shield assets from market volatility. Before TYMIO, Georgii served as the Managing Director for Russia & CIS at eToro Rus, the BizDev Director for Russia & CIS at TradingView, KAM at Thomson Reuters RUS, as a host of the “Markets” show at RBC TV, and ran his own show 'Business Class with Georgy Verbitsky' on Finam-FM. Georgii has over 20 years of senior management experience in business development, more than 17 years.

Zhen Yu, CEO & Co-Founder, Web3Auth Zhen Yu Yong is the CEO and co-founder of Web3Auth, the leading non-custodial auth infrastructure that enables Web3 wallets and applications to provide a seamless user login experience to both mainstream and native Web3 users. Prior to Web3Auth, Zhen worked on various Ethereum Foundation projects as a researcher for off-chain scalability — where he built one of the first cross-chain bridges called The Peace Bridge, between ETH and ETC. He met Vitalik Buterin face-to-face in 2016 and then decided a “decentralized computer” made sense. He was previously a Firefighter in the Singapore army and started learning programming on his days off. He studied finance at Singapore Management University. Twitter | LinkedIn About Web3auth Web3Auth is the leading Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) provider that empowers every user to manage a non-custodial wallet intuitively. It leverages on enterprise-grade Multi-Party Computation and Account Abstraction tooling, alongside social logins, biometrics, OIDC, FIDO for a familiar yet seamless user experience. Web3Auth works with Fortune 500 brands (including NBCUniversal, Fox.com, McDonald’s), leading Asia conglomerates (SK Planet, Square Enix) and Web3 pioneers like Trust Wallet, Metamask, Sky Mavis, Kukai, Skyweaver among others. To date, it is proud to be supporting thousands of Web3 projects with more than 20 million monthly users. The organization is growing beyond Series A, and backed by Sequoia Capital, Union Square Ventures, Binance, and more. Website | Twitter | Discord | Blog | Docs | Github

Building in the blockchain space since 2017, Harrison Seletsky is the Director of Business Development at SPACE ID, a universal identity and domain name platform, and the largest multi-chain web3 domain name service by users and registrations. Harrison leads the ecosystem growth, partner expansion, and partnership success at SPACE ID, and is charged with many of the forward-facing and strategic aspects of the SPACE ID identity platform, driving its innovation in the decentralized identity space. Prior to SPACE ID, Harrison worked at NFTrade as the Head of Growth and Strategy, at a blockchain-focused hedge fund, as a contributor to various crypto news outlets, and has worked privately with blockchain networks and applications collectively worth billions on their business development, strategy, and user-facing interactions.

Miguel Buffara, Lead Financial Engineer at RACE As Lead Financial Engineer at RACE, Miguel blends his technical acumen with financial expertise to build the infrastructure that supports investor onboarding, designs effective governance structures, and models tokenomics structures. Miguel's introduction to the finance industry began as a credit research analyst for Banco BOCOM BBM in 2019, which served as a springboard into investment management. He later honed his skills in managing investments and navigating the complexities of financial markets at METRIX and Apollo Capital. Leveraging the experience gained from the traditional financial sector, Miguel became involved in the decentralized finance space as a portfolio manager, where he strategized user onboarding and modeled investor behavior.

Benedetto Biondi is the CEO of Folks Finance, a premier cross-chain DeFi protocol that delivers a comprehensive suite of services, including lending, borrowing, trading, and liquid staking for digital assets. Driven by a passion for innovation, Benedetto serves as a mentor in Techstars Web3 and various other accelerator programs, where he nurtures emerging talent in the blockchain space. He is also a DeFi advisor at Climatecoin and shares his extensive knowledge as a lecturer on DeFi in the Economics and Law for Digital Assets course at the University of Florence.Socials: Personal:https://www.instagram.com/benedetto___/https://x.com/BenedettoBiohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/benedetto-biondi-030248199/Folks:https://www.linkedin.com/company/78074359https://x.com/FolksFinancehttps://www.instagram.com/folksfinance/?hl=en

Kurapika, Founder & CEO of [Factor](https://factor.fi/), has been channeling his passion into changing the way we view on-chain asset management. Under his leadership, Factor is realizing his vision by abstracting complexities to simplify sophisticated DeFi strategies for the Web3 world. With a career spanning over a decade in fintech and crypto, Kurapika’s expertise includes developing ML-based analysis solutions for stock exchanges, hedge funds, government agencies and other financial institutions. In 2017, he launched a pioneering crypto analysis platform. Kurapika is also an advisory to several prominent Web3 protocols.

Brendan Playford is the co-founder of Masa, a leading innovator in decentralized AI and blockchain technology. With a dynamic background in the tech industry, Brendan has founded multiple successful ventures, including Constellation Labs, where he served as CEO, and Pngme, where he was the co-founder and CEO. He also held significant roles at The Bureau, a blockchain incubator, and DroneDeploy, where he led demand generation. Brendan’s journey into web3 began with a personal exploration of Bitcoin mining in 2013, which led him to recognize the transformative potential of decentralized technologies. He utilized his self-taught computer science skills and a Physics education from Berkeley to build a credit score platform for Africa, demonstrating his commitment to using technology for social good. At Masa, Brendan focuses on creating a decentralized data network that empowers users by compensating them for their data contributions while providing developers with private-by-default user data to build innovative applications. Masa's vision of an open and Fair AI ecosystem is making AI applications accessible and equitable to everyone. About Masa Masa is building the largest zero-knowledge user data network in the world. Masa is architecting the “decentralized Google'' for the AI era: A scalable, secure, and resilient global data marketplace, where billions of users get compensated by their data contribution, and millions of developers build innovative applications using private-by-default user data. Masa has amassed more than 1 million user wallets through exponential growth since launch in August 2022. It was incubated by Coinlist’s Seed Program and Binance’s Most-Valuable-Builder Accelerator. Profile Links: - Twitter: https://x.com/BrendanPlayford- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanplayford/

Ganesh Swami is a co-founder of Covalent – the leading modular on-chain data infrastructure network. He has been leading the Covalent Network to build the most robust organization, improving data accessibility and empowering blockchain innovation since 2019. With a background in building protein simulation algorithms to solve cancer, Ganesh is a serial entrepreneur and has over a decade of experience in big data analytics. Ganesh's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ganswami/ Ganesh's X: https://x.com/gane5hCovalent Website: https://www.covalenthq.com/ Covalent X: https://x.com/Covalent_HQ

Jameel Qeblawi is Founder & Chief Architect at myqubator. Jameel is a visionary leader in the startup ecosystem with a proven track record of founding, scaling, and successfully exiting multiple businesses across diverse sectors. As the Founder and ChiefArchitect of myqubator, Jameel specializes in nurturing early-stage ventures by providing strategic guidance, refining go-to-market strategies, and delivering market value. His extensive experience in ideation, development, and execution ensures that the startups he works with not only survive but thrive in competitive markets. Throughout his career, Jameel has built and led teams, developedinnovative solutions, and forged impactful partnerships that have redefined market boundaries. His entrepreneurial journey includes holding key positions such as CEO, Chairman, and Director across varioushigh-growth companies. Jameel consistently demonstrates an ability to balance data-driven insights with people-focused leadership, believing that while metrics and KPIs are essential, it is ultimately thepeople—teams, stakeholders, and partners—who drive exceptional business results. At myqubator, Jameel fosters an environment that encourages innovation, challenges the status quo, and champions honest dialogue. His emotionally intelligent leadership style, combined with a strong commitment to ethical business practices, creates the foundation forunlocking the full potential of any business endeavor. His strength lies in combining visionary thinking with execution, blending market realities with innovative strategies, and empowering talented teams to deliver game-changing results. With a passion for identifying market-redefining opportunities and supporting emerging entrepreneurs, Jameel continues to invest in andmentor promising startups, helping them navigate complex challenges and unlock their full potential. His ultimate goal is to make a meaningful impact on the lives of those he works with and, in turn, create lasting value in the global marketplace.

AKA LEUNG Regional Director MENA Bitget Crypto Exchange Aka Leung is an accomplished professional with extensive experience in the cryptocurrency industry. With a background in operations and business development, Aka has played a pivotal role in driving growth and expanding market reach for leading digital asset platforms. Previously, Aka served as the Senior Operations Manager at Bitget, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange. In this role, Aka demonstrated exceptional leadership and strategic acumen, overseeing operations and driving user growth across multiple regions. Aka's responsibilities spanned diverse territories, including CIS, Latam, and English-speaking regions such as the UK, Canada, Australia, India, Pakistan, Africa, and the Philippines. By implementing targeted initiatives and fostering strong relationships, Aka successfully propelled Bitget's market presence and user base in these regions. Currently, Aka holds the position of Country Manager at Bitget, where the focus is on driving business growth and enhancing user engagement in the Middle East. Aka's expertise in understanding local markets and cultural nuances has been instrumental in formulating effective strategies tailored to the unique needs and preferences of the MENA region. Through fostering strategic partnerships and implementing localized marketing initiatives, Aka continues to spearhead Bitget's expansion and solidify its position as a leading cryptocurrency platform in the Middle East. Before joining Bitget, Aka held a significant role at Huobi Global (HTX), where they focused on user growth in the Latam and CIS regions. Aka's contributions at HTX were instrumental in establishing a strong foothold in these markets, driving user acquisition, and fostering a vibrant cryptocurrency community. With a proven track record of success, Aka Leung exemplifies a dynamic leader who combines a deep understanding of the cryptocurrency industry with a global perspective. Aka's passion for driving innovation, fostering strategic partnerships, and delivering exceptional results continues to shape its journey as a key player in the ever-evolving world of digital assets. Established in 2018, Bitget is the world's leading cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company. Serving over 25 million users in 100+ countries and regions, the Bitget exchange is committed to helping users trade smarter with its pioneering copy trading feature and other trading solutions. Formerly known as BitKeep, Bitget Wallet is a world-class multi-chain crypto wallet that offers an array of comprehensive Web3 solutions and features including wallet functionality, swap, NFT Marketplace, DApp browser, and more. Bitget inspires individuals to embrace crypto through collaborations with credible partners, including legendary Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi and Turkish National athletes Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu (Wrestling world champion), Samet Gümüş (Boxing gold medalist) and İlkin Aydın (Volleyball national team).

Firdosh Sheikh is Founder and CEO of DRIFE, an industry-disrupting decentralized ride-hailing platform built on the principles of Web3 technology. Firdosh believes it has been an incredible journey leading the charge in the DePin space, shaping DRIFE into a game-changer with an engaged user base of over 300,000 riders and a network of more than 30,000 drivers using the innovative DRIFE application.Being at the helm of the first decentralized ride-hailing company has been both an honor and a challenge for her. But it's this pioneering spirit that drives Firdosh to constantly redefine the norms of the mobility industry. By integrating blockchain technology into its platform, DRIFE has created a system that champions fairness, transparency, and user autonomy, setting a new standard for the entire industry.DRIFE isn't just a ride-hailing app; it's a testament to the potential of Web3 and a testament to the power of a community-driven vision. Firdosh is proud to have spearheaded this endeavor and to continue shaping the future of decentralized transportation. Website: drife.io

KATHY ROBERTS is CEO of Switch Reward Card - a blockchain finance ecosystem. Kathy started her career with Sears and then transferred over as an early executive (or Dawner as they called them) when Sears started Discover Card. Kathy went on to become the President of Discover Bank and served as the first female Chair of the Delaware Bankers Association. Current member of Salt Lake Chamber’s Board of Governors. Kathy Roberts’ charitable endeavors include but in no way are limited to the following organizations: Delaware Junior Achievement (Board of Directors), New Mexico Museum Foundation, WHOlives (Board of Directors), https://wholives.org/ - Providing clean water in the developing world using the innovative Village Drill. The History Makers, https://www.thehistorymakers.org/ - Documenting video oral histories of influential and sometimes unsung African Americans heroes. Kathy currently splits her time between Santa Fe, NM and Salt Lake City with her son Malachi, who is a musician. Website: www.SwitchRewardCard.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyrobertsswitch/ X: https://x.com/switch_rewards Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/switch.rewardcard

Johnny is founder and lead developer at Empyreal SDK. He is a seasoned Systems Engineer with a wealth of experience in enterprise-level technology. Prior to starting Empyreal, Johnny worked as a Software Engineer at a FAANG company. He brings a strong passion for programming, particularly in Rust, Python, and Functional Programming.

Graeme Moore is the Head of Tokenization at the Polymesh Association, a not-for-profit dedicated to the growth of the Polymesh blockchain ecosystem. He is also the author of B is for Bitcoin, the first ever ABC book about Bitcoin. Prior to Polymesh, Graeme was the first employee at Polymath; the creative director at Spartan Race; and an associate at Canada’s largest independent investment advisory firm.

Dr. Weijia Zhang is the Regional Head of China at Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) and Vice President of Engineering at Wanchain. He has extensive engineering experience in Blockchain, as well as research and development (R&D), cognitive sciences, mental modeling, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), software modeling, computer technologies and industrial standards. Weija has published over thirty research and technical papers, and is named as an inventor for over twenty patents (granted and pending) in computer and digital technology. He also served as a technical committee voting member to publish the Solution Deployment Descriptor (SDD) by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS). Dr. Weijia Zhang is also teaching the Smart Contract Development course at the University of Texas as an adjunct faculty. Dr. Weija Zhang has written and published a book called: Blockchain and Ethereum Smart Contract Solution Development: Dapp Programming with Solidity (2022).

Josh Benaron is the Founder & CEO of Irys, the first L1 programmable datachain. Seeing firsthand that the existing data infrastructures weren’t built for scalability, Josh created Bundlr, an L2 solution on Arweave that gained early success scaling Arweave from 15k transactions per day to 15 million. Bundlr evolved into what is now Irys to become the first truly programmable datachain. As a builder with a background in database architecture, Josh is committed to driving the adoption of programmable data that empower developers to continue building an onchain future.

“Bunny is the Co-Founder and CEO of DORA, a multichain search engine designed to unify and enhance the accessibility of blockchain data across various networks. Known as the "Infinite Discovery Engine," Dora aims to simplify the user experience by integrating search and action functionalities across multiple blockchains and virtual machine ecosystems. Bunny possesses considerable knowledge and deep insights on the evolution of Multichain and MultiVM block explorers, enhancing blockchain accessibility and user experience, the future of blockchain interoperability, and building and leading a blockchain startup”.

Michael Repetny is the Core Contributor at Marinade, the leading liquid staking protocol on Solana. Michael has been leading Marinade’s efforts to make Solana more secure, stable, and censorship-resistant through responsible SOL staking since 2021. Coming from an e-commerce background, Michael is passionate about promoting a decentralized future and financial freedom.

Andrew Forson is the Head of Ventures and Investments at The Hashgraph Association where he is responsible for working with portfolio companies to develop and execute strategic vision. Andrew leads capital raising for the Hashgraph Ventures Fund as well as structure instrument development. Andrew focuses on enabling SMEs, enterprises, and governments to leverage Hedera-powered solutions. Andrew is a Director of DeFi Technologies. In the past, Andrew was the Head of Quantitative Analytics and Risk at Empowa, and the Global Blockchain Business Lead at Joget.

Tom Trowbridge is an accomplished business builder and web3 focused entrepreneur, and the Co-Founder & CEO of Fluence Labs which is building the Cloudless internet; a decentralized serverless computing network and protocol that offers low cost, resilient and verifiable compute. Before Fluence, Tom helped found Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) where he was president from inception. He is a board member at Stronghold Digital Mining (NASDAQ: SDIG), and is an early investor in leading DePIN projects and funds. He also hosts the DePINed podcast which interviews leading DePIN founders, investors and providers.

Mike Romanenko is CVO and Co-Founder of Kyrrex. Mike, who has more than a decade of experience in investment and financial regulation, is a co-founder of Kyrrex. Besides, Mike holds key roles at Unicorn Factory Ventures and Vireye Game Studios, championing web3 and gaming innovations. Often featured in podcasts and panels, he's a recognized authority in the crypto domain. Kyrrex is a crypto ecosystem that provides a one-stop shop for bridging finance, payment, and trading operations with cryptocurrency on a single platform. Kyrrex is registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and its operations have been acknowledged and accepted by the SVG Financial Services Authority to provide crypto services with the goal of giving clients the flexibility to carry out all their crypto transactions under one roof. REX, operating under the tradename Kyrrex, obtained the Malta VFA Class 4 License in 2021. Applying for such a license requires the applicant to demonstrate a deep understanding of the regulatory framework, provide detailed business plans, ensure compliance with the relevant AML regulations, and establish internal security measures. https://kyrrex.com https://kyrrex.mt https://mt.linkedin.com/in/mikekyrrex https://cryptoslate.com/author/mike-romanenko/

Riad Wahby is Co-Founder & CEO of Cubist. Riad is a member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a leading academic researcher on zero-knowledge proofs and their applications, and is also responsible for the design and specification of several cryptographic protocols that form the basis for the security of Ethereum, Avalanche, and many other blockchains. Riad was previously a cryptographic researcher at Algorand, and spent a decade as an analog and mixed-signal integrated circuit designer at Silicon Labs. Riad received his SB and MEng in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, and his PhD in Computer Science at Stanford, where he was supported by a Ripple Fellowship. His work was recognized with a Distinguished Paper award at WOOT 2023.

Nikolay Denisenko is the Co-Founder and CTO of Brighty — a digital finance app blending fiat and crypto payments in a safe and simple way, both for individuals and businesses. Nikolay has 10+ years of experience in applied mathematics, business process management, and developing applications. Before building Brighty, he was a Lead Backend Engineer at Revolut, responsible for developing Revolut Business. It was considered the most profitable division of the company. https://www.linkedin.com/in/be1ive/ https://x.com/brightyapp

Mr. Blue entered blockchain in 2017 when he became enamored with Ethereum and GPU mining. He was an early Binance trader and didnt take note of DeFi until entering BSC. From there found Apeswap and was hooked. He operated and was portfolio manager for a DeFi fund deploying capital for shared LP with a sports betting fund & then teamed up to build LEVR. (The bear market left him with time.) His previous life to blockcahin was spent in a 'Wolf of Wallstreet' style sales floor which he credits for his resiliency.

Adrien Stern is the Founder & CEO of Reveel, the on-chain peer-to-peer payments dApp. Before founding Reveel, Adrien led the digital transformation team at BNP Paribas CIB, he was also previously a venture builder, and he owns another company - Bridge Music - a record label and recording studio.

Dr. Alok Aggarwal received his bachelor’s in technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in 1980. In 1984, he received his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University. He worked at IBM’s T. J. Watson Research Center in New York between 1984-2000. During 1987 and 1989 Fall Terms, he took a sabbatical from IBM to teach two courses and supervise two Ph.D. students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Between 1993-1995, along with others, he built and sold a "Supply Chain Management Solution" for paper mills and steel mills, which was the first commercial Artificial Intelligence based solution of its kind. By optimizing paper machines, trimmers, winders, warehouses, transportation, and the loading of trucks and railroad cars, their solution saved paper mills substantially in the mills’ operating costs. In 1993, Madison Paper Company in the United States was the first to buy this solution. And the company used this solution until 2017, when it was sold to a Norwegian paper company. Between 1996-1997, Dr. Aggarwal joined the Strategy Department of IBM Research Division, which was then greatly involved in strategizing and organizing chess matches between Deep Blue and Gary Kasparov. In July 1997, IBM Research Division announced the formation of “IBM’s India Research Laboratory” (IRL). Dr. Aggarwal “founded” IRL inside IIT Delhi on April 1, 1998. By August 2000, he had grown it from "ground zero" to a 60-member team (with 30 PhDs and 30 people with master’s in computer science and related areas). In January 2001, he co-founded Evalueserve (www.evalueserve.com ), which currently has more than 4,500 employees and provides various kinds of research, analytics, and consulting services to clients worldwide. In 2003, he wrote the first article regarding “Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO),” which estimated the amount of such work that would be outsourced from high-wage countries (like the United States) to low-wage countries (like India). Today, KPO is a well-known term in the outsourcing industry and is considered a sector on its own with more than 300 KPO companies in India alone. In February 2014, Dr. Aggarwal founded Scry Analytics (now “Scry AI”) that performs research and development (R&D) in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and related areas. Scry AI ( www.scryai.com ) also has five product groups and a distributed platform for Internet of Things. These improve efficiency of business workflows regarding quality, timeliness, revenue, cost, customer experience, compliance, and operational risks. Scry AI has its primary center in San Jose, California. And it has three other centers in Gurgaon, Pune, and Hyderabad, India. He has published 120 research articles, has been granted 8 patents from the US Patents and Trademark Office, and has been an editor of several academic journals in Computer Science. Furthermore, between 1998-2000, he was a member of Executive Committee on Information Technology of the Confederation of the Indian Industry (CII) and the Telecom Committee of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). During 2002 and 2005, he was on the executive board of TiE’s (The Indus Entrepreneur). In 2008, Dr. Aggarwal received Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Delhi. In December 2000, he published a book titled, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution & 100 Years of AI (1950-2050)”, which is available on Amazon and other book stores.

Darren Carvalho is a distinguished graduate of the University of Toronto's Computer Science program and the Ivey Business School. His professional journey began at Toronto Dominion Bank, where he spearheaded AI and Machine Learning initiatives, demonstrating a keen aptitude for innovative technology solutions. Darren's expertise and leadership quickly propelled him to the role of Vice President at Goldman Sachs, where he played a pivotal role in strategic investments and projects in the DSML space. Darren is now the Co-founder and Co-CEO of MetaWealth, a pioneering company in Real World Asset (RWA) Tokenization. His vision and leadership are shaping the future of digital asset management and blockchain integration.

Erik LaPaglia, Chief Strategy Officer, Propy Erik serves as the Chief Strategy Officer of Propy and has been a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and co-founder of Miami NFT Week. With a breadth of experience in supporting businesses of all sizes, from burgeoning startups to Fortune 500 giants, Erik is renowned for introducing innovative solutions across diverse industries. As an award-winning expert in marketing and sales, Erik’s ability to influence and engage with top-tier executives and key stakeholders is both effective and highly regarded.A sought-after speaker, Erik has presented at major industry events including The Bitcoin Conference, iConnections, SALT, NFT NYC, Paris Blockchain Week, NFT.London, and SUPERVERSE Dubai. His thought leadership extends to media appearances in documentaries like "Crypto Revealed" and "NFTY 30," further cementing his influence in the blockchain space.

With nearly 15 years of experience in the insurance industry, Joseph Ziolkowski has navigated US and non-US regulatory environments to establish P&C and life insurance company infrastructure and insurance intermediaries. Joseph has formed over 100 captive insurance and reinsurance facilities and was formerly the co-founder of Trident Insurance Group, a niche admitted carrier domiciled in Maryland. More recently, Mr Ziolkowski co-founded Relm Insurance Ltd in 2019, a licensed commercial insurer in Bermuda and Relm Insurance II Ltd, a collateralized reinsurer, also domiciled in Bermuda.

Casey Grooms is the co-founder of Soulbound, an avant-garde social gaming platform empowering the new creator economy. Casey started his career as a Financial Analyst at Wells Fargo & Company. In 2010, he co-founded Bon La Vu, a fashiontech startup offering exclusive outfits sourced from local designers. He later co-founded Pocketmath in 2011, establishing the world's largest self-serve mobile advertising platform, which raised $20 million over our Series A and B rounds, hit $80 million a year in revenue, and scaled up to 50 employees, and exited in 2018. Casey's other investments include Uninstall.io in 2015 and MidBoss in 2016. In 2018, he founded Userbase, focusing on mobile app install services, and became a General Partner at Rhinocorn Ventures in 2021. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseygrooms/Soulbound Twitter: https://x.com/Soulbound_GG Soulbound Telegram: https://t.me/Soulbound_GG Soulbound Website: https://soulbound.gg/

James Lucas is the COO and co-founder of Lamina, a DeFi operating system driving mainstream adoption through seamless asset utilization. A proud crypto native, James entered the web3 space contributing to APAC community growth at Bybit. He previously oversaw legal operations across various hyper-growth start-ups and led partnerships and ecosystem development in multiple executive positions. James played a core role in delivering Web3 IP campaigns with FIFA, Universal Studios and Bandai Namco and managed pipelines for over $50,000,000 of brand deal volume to Web2 audiences of over 100,000,000 subscribers.James is committed to delivering a more cohesive blockchain ecosystem poised to penetrate all industries, focusing on improved UX. He founded the adoption strategy for ERC 4907 and ERC 5006, then scaled these two novel standards from zero to 100,000+ deployed contracts. James holds qualifications in Law and has a focus on compliance and risk management in Web3 innovation. Twitter: https://x.com/BuildrJ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-l-743a01191/ Lamina Twitter: https://x.com/laminafinance

Kurt Hemecker, CEO of the Mina Foundation Kurt Hemecker is CEO of the Mina Foundation, the public benefit corporation serving the Mina Protocol, the world’s first zero knowledge (ZK)-native blockchain, where he previously served as Chief Operating Officer. With extensive experience across the blockchain, payments, and mobile media industries, Kurt has held senior operating roles in the Diem Association (formerly Libra), Zong, a mobile payments company acquired by PayPal in 2011, and across various other PayPal initiatives with global mobile network carriers.

Gabriele Giancola, CEO of The qiibee foundation, is a prominent Swiss entrepreneur known for his contributions to the Web3 and blockchain space. After graduating with a Master’s in Business Management from the University of St. Gallen, Gabriele co-founded qiibee, a blockchain-based loyalty ecosystem that helps brands run and connect loyalty programs. Gabriele has worked with brands such as Miles & More, Etihad Guest, Renault, and Coca-Cola. Dedicated to pushing the boundaries of how blockchain can be applied to solve real-world problems, Gabriele envisions rewards as one of the top three payment methods that will drive blockchain’s growth and societal impact. Gabriele’s areas of expertise include blockchain innovation and business enterprise loyalty programs. The qiibee foundation is a non-profit organization based in Zug, Switzerland established to promote and develop the qiibee loyalty blockchain infrastructure. The foundation also fuels promoting and supporting applications designed for the qiibee ecosystem. Such as the leading blockchain-based B2B rewards marketplace with instant access to world-renowned brands. The foundation bolsters the use, application, and enhancement of the qiibee rewards chain (QRC), governed by leading players of the rewards and blockchain markets. Through continued investment, innovation, and development, the qiibee foundation aims to make reward currencies one of the largest payment method globally.

Gijs op de Weegh is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur in the financial technology sector, with a particular focus on the payments industry and the integration of blockchain technology. In April 2023, Gijs founded StablR, where he currently serves as CEO and Founder. StablR is dedicated to developing a robust Euro stablecoin ecosystem, emphasizing regulatory compliance and transparency in the digital currency space. Gijs is particularly passionate about the application of stablecoins and their potential to enhance transaction efficiency and security within the financial sector.Gijs holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Amsterdam, which complements his strategic vision and operational expertise. He is fluent in Dutch and English, with limited proficiency in German, allowing him to engage effectively in diverse business environments.Throughout his career, Gijs has been an advocate for the adoption of innovative technologies in finance, believing that blockchain can significantly reshape the industry. His thought leadership is evident through his publications and speaking engagements, where he shares insights on the evolving landscape of fintech and the critical role of compliance in the adoption of digital currencies.In addition to his professional achievements, Gijs is committed to fostering a collaborative ecosystem in the fintech space, working closely with partners to drive growth and innovation. His vision for StablR includes leveraging cutting-edge technologies to create a seamless financial infrastructure that benefits businesses and consumers alike.Social links: LinkedInTwitter/X

Yannik Schrade is the CEO and Co-Founder of Arcium, a parallelized confidential computing network, bringing fast, scaleable and universal encryption. As the lead architect and visionary behind Arcium, Yannik created the project by leveraging his expertise in cryptography with the goal of advancing data security and confidentiality. A renowned thought leader, Yannik has spoken at several prominent industry conferences, including the 2024 World Economic Forum, where he challenged TradFi leaders on the importance of decentralization, privacy, and trustlessness. He previously founded ShiftScreen, an iOS app, which attracted over 100,000 paying customers and was a regular top seller globally. Yannik studied Computer Science and Mathematics at the Technical University of Munich, and he also studied law, adding another dimension to his extensive portfolio.

Amir Forouzani is Core Contributor at Puffer Finance and an ex-scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratories. Puffer is focused anti-slashing liquid restaking technology.

As the Head of Digital Assets at io.finnet, Michael Cunningham brings a truly unique blend of technical expertise and industry experience to his role. His background includes a degree in Materials Science and Engineering , as well as previous roles as Head of Custody at Delchain Limited, Consultant for Relm Insurance and as a Commercialization Engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This diverse background has equipped him with a distinctive perspective that fuels his innovative approach to digital assets. Michael's work at io.finnet has contributed to significant recognition, with the company being accepted into the MPC Alliance and the prestigious EY FinTech Growth Programme and receiving the FinNext Award for Excellence in Financial Institutions. These accolades are a testament to his visionary leadership and dedication to advancing io.finnet's mission. His leadership and insights make him a particularly compelling voice in the conversation around the future of digital assets and financial technology. As a recognized expert in his field, Michael continues to shape the trajectory of io.finnet through his work and foresight.

Danny Chong is co-founder of Tranchess, a DeFi protocol offering structured and liquid staking solutions. With over 17 years in investment banking at Société Générale and BNP Paribas, he brings extensive leadership experience in trading, sales and management in the APAC region, advocating for a symbiotic relationship between DeFi and TradFi. Danny is also co-founder of the Digital Assets Association in Singapore, a non-profit association at the forefront of integrating blockchain technology into the fabric of traditional finance.

Taha Abbasi is a recognized leader in blockchain innovation, contributing significantly to the growth of decentralized finance and interoperability technologies. As the CTO of Ferrum Network, Taha has architected sophisticated systems for cross-chain communication, liquidity aggregation, and asset transfer, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the blockchain space. His work on OmniChain Liquidity and OmniSwaps has revolutionized how exchanges operate, offering seamless liquidity across multiple chains. At Ferrum Network, Taha has been instrumental in designing reward systems that enhance blockchain incentives, ensuring fair participation and engagement within the network. His pioneering efforts in Web3 conversion tracking have optimized blockchain analytics, providing valuable insights for developers and users alike. Outside the blockchain industry, Taha had a decorated career, serving as the CTO of five major companies, including National Geographic. He was also a technical consultant at Apple and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Taha is an alumnus of prestigious institutions like MIT Sloan and Harvard Extension School. Taha Abbasi's extensive experience and high-impact contributions make him a sought-after expert in blockchain technology and DeFi. His leadership and technical acumen continue to drive Ferrum Network towards new heights in the blockchain industry.

Max Galash is a serial entrepreneur, investor and advisor with over ten years of experience building technology companies in FinTech, Blockchain and IT services. Max is currently CEO of the fast-growing DeFi platform CoinChange Financials, and a Board Member at: https://wattum.io/, https://flyshot.io/, http://boxc.com/, and https://itmhouse.com/. Prior to his current roles, Maxim was Partner at venture capital firm BGS Ventures for 4 years. He was responsible for many early stage investment success stories at BGS Ventures, including https://strateos.com. In the early part of his career, Max worked as a business consultant, software developer and portfolio manager. His educational background includes a BAS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Toronto and Master of Business from PowerMBA.

Mitchell Gildenberg is the co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Switchboard, a fast, permissionless, and customizable oracle network that allows any developer to build the custom feed they need. Mitchell is a former third-level software engineer and technical lead of cloud services at Google, where he worked for over four years. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a master's degree in computer science.