Crypto Hipster

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