Crypto Hipster

Sean (Xiang) Ren, CEO and Co-Founder of Sahara AISean is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sahara AI, a decentralized AI blockchain platform for a collaborative economy. Backed by top investors in AI and Crypto, including Binance Labs, Pantera Capital, Polychain Capital, Sequoia Capital, Samsung Next, Matrix Partners, and many more, Sahara AI has raised over $40 million to advance decentralized AI. Today, Sahara AI is trusted by 35+ leading tech innovators and research institutions, such as Microsoft, Amazon, MIT, Character AI, and Snapchat. Additionally, Sean is an Associate Professor in Computer Science and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair at the University of Southern California, where he is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Intelligence and Knowledge Discovery (INK) Research Lab. At Allen Institute for AI, Sean contributes to machine common sense research. Prior, Sean was a Data Science Advisor at Snapchat. He completed his PhD in computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. Sean has received many awards recognizing his research and innovation in the AI space including the WSDM Test of Time Paper Award, Samsung AI Researcher of 2023, MIT TR Innovators Under 35, Forbes 30 Under 30, and more.  Personal Site: https://www.seanre.com/ Twitter: @xiangrenNLP LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/xren7

Bhaji Illuminati is a visionary growth leader with a proven track record of scaling early-stage tech companies into market-leading brands. As CMO of Centrifuge, she is driving the adoption of real-world assets on-chain, positioning Centrifuge at the forefront of the RWA movement. Previously, at Dragonboat, she grew the team from 5 to 40 in a year and secured $12M in funding led by Insight Partners. At Taulia, her strategies helped pave the way for its $1B acquisition by SAP. Bhaji’s expertise spans go-to-market strategy, organizational scaling, and navigating complex ecosystems to drive growth and impact. Beyond work, she founded GLOW, a network connecting women executives in Los Angeles, and enjoys life in Venice, California, with her husband and two daughters.

Bhaji Illuminati is a visionary growth leader with a proven track record of scaling early-stage tech companies into market-leading brands. As CMO of Centrifuge, she is driving the adoption of real-world assets on-chain, positioning Centrifuge at the forefront of the RWA movement. Previously, at Dragonboat, she grew the team from 5 to 40 in a year and secured $12M in funding led by Insight Partners. At Taulia, her strategies helped pave the way for its $1B acquisition by SAP. Bhaji’s expertise spans go-to-market strategy, organizational scaling, and navigating complex ecosystems to drive growth and impact. Beyond work, she founded GLOW, a network connecting women executives in Los Angeles, and enjoys life in Venice, California, with her husband and two daughters.

Cecilia Hsueh is the co-founder and CEO of Morph, the global consumer layer for driving blockchain adoption. A serial entrepreneur with over 12 years of experience building consumer-focused companies, she previously led crypto exchange Phemex to achieve $5B in daily trading volume. Before entering Web3, she ran a successful market research firm advising Fortune 500 companies on consumer strategy and built a direct-to-consumer sportswear brand. Cecilia is passionate about building inclusive web3 ecosystems for the mass market. 

Cecilia Hsueh is the co-founder and CEO of Morph, the global consumer layer that drives blockchain adoption. A serial entrepreneur with over 12 years of experience building consumer-focused companies, she previously led crypto exchange Phemex to achieve $5B in daily trading volume. Before entering Web3, she ran a successful market research firm advising Fortune 500 companies on consumer strategy and built a direct-to-consumer sportswear brand. Cecilia is passionate about building inclusive web3 ecosystems for the mass market. 

Victor Vernissage, a researcher at the intersection of macroeconomics, blockchain, AI and decentralized governance and a co-founder of multiple crypto ventures, including Citadel.one staking app, DeSci/Fi project Episteme, and Humanode, an AI-driven biometric protocol that has authenticated over 500,000 humans.

Lindsey Lim, a board member at the Radix Foundation and former senior director at Circle Internet Finance, dives into the transformative potential of stablecoins. She discusses their role in enhancing financial inclusion for gig workers and refugees, making cross-border payments more accessible. Lindsey shares insights from her journey from the World Bank to crypto innovation, emphasizing the importance of bank partnerships in stablecoin infrastructure. Discover how traditional finance can embrace blockchain technology to empower underserved communities.

 Hedi Navazan, the Chief Compliance Officer of 1inch Group, to your podcast. Hedi brings over a decade of expertise in regulatory compliance, financial crime prevention, and governance. With a distinguished career spanning both traditional finance and digital assets, Hedi is a pivotal figure in navigating the intersection of decentralized finance (DeFi) and global regulatory landscapes.Prior to joining 1inch, Hedi managed financial crime and regulatory teams across Europe at HSBC, where she gained extensive experience in banking and compliance. Her global perspective is further enhanced by her work with prominent organizations such as Europol, Interpol, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), where she has advised and educated policymakers on creating robust regulatory frameworks for the digital asset sector.

 Hedi Navazan is the Chief Compliance Officer of 1inch Group, to your podcast. Hedi brings over a decade of expertise in regulatory compliance, financial crime prevention, and governance. With a distinguished career spanning both traditional finance and digital assets, Hedi is a pivotal figure in navigating the intersection of decentralized finance (DeFi) and global regulatory landscapes.Prior to joining 1inch, Hedi managed financial crime and regulatory teams across Europe at HSBC, where she gained extensive experience in banking and compliance. Her global perspective is further enhanced by her work with prominent organizations such as Europol, Interpol, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), where she has advised and educated policymakers on creating robust regulatory frameworks for the digital asset sector.

Ahmad Shadid is a tech entrepreneur known for his contributions to the artificial intelligence and blockchain industries. He is the founder ofO.XYZ, a blockchain and AI company, and the former CEO of IO.net, a Solana-based decentralized infrastructure provider (DePIN). As Founder and ex-CEO of IO.NET, Shadid successfully transformed the startup into a multibillion-dollar enterprise within just a year. His strategic deployment of AI solutions greatly impacted the Crypto AI landscape and solidified IO.NET's position as a leader in the decentralized AI compute sector. The company's advancements under his leadership helped pave the way for broader blockchain adoption, emphasizing reliability and scalability in decentralized physical infrastructure.At O.XYZ, Shadid’s vision focuses on building a strong platform for scalable blockchain and AI solutions, designed to cut operational costs and accelerate transaction speeds in real-world use cases.