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A guide to consensus for financial professionals 2024
Are you curious about how cryptocurrencies are already disrupting the world of finance? Here’s a schedule of events every financial professional will want to attend at this year’s Consensus 2024 conference to keep you updated.
OFAC Sanctions Compliance: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (10:30 a.m. CDT • 11:30 a.m. EDT)
In recent years, cryptocurrencies have come under the watchful eye of international regulators, concerned that borderless, censorship-resistant financial platforms could be used to eliminate sanctions. Former Director General of the Central Bank of Ecuador, Andres Arauz, is joined by three experienced cryptocurrency lawyers, privacy advocates and founders to discuss how crypto startups can comply with sanctions lists without sacrificing their credible neutrality.
Cathie Wood on Bitcoin’s Rubicon moment (10:45 a.m. CDT • 11:45 a.m. EDT)
Cathie Wood, CEO of ARK Invest and legendary Wall Street investor, is joined by influential Bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack to discuss the current and future value proposition of the world’s first decentralized money – and why he thinks bitcoin will continue to grow.
Tom Emmer: Congressional Crypto Champion (11:15 a.m. CDT • 12:15 p.m. EDT)
Minnesota Republican Congressman and Majority Whip Tom Emmer is one of the biggest cryptocurrency advocates on the Hill. And since he is the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives as of 2023, what he says carries weight.
Open Money Summit: Is it time to unite? Digital Asset Mergers and Acquisitions (3:30 PM CDT • 4:30 PM EDT)
A wave of consolidations has swept the sector in the wake of the 2022 contagion event and will likely repeat itself during the market recovery, as growing companies look to invest. Lawyers and investment bankers, including Sarah Chen of DLx Law, Paul McCaffery of KBW and Tony Scuderi of Imperii Partners will discuss how the tone and tenor of M&A deals change during market boom and bust cycles.
The OG of Fast Payments (4:05 pm CDT • 5:05 pm EDT)
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, will discuss the evolving world of enterprise-focused blockchain tools, including the company’s plans to launch a stablecoin and how traditional financial operations might move on-chain.
Cryptocurrencies, US Elections, and the Next Administration (10 a.m. CDT • 11 a.m. EDT)
Tim Draper, one of the first major VCs to buy bitcoin, joins on the main stage with Rebecca Rettig, Chief Legal Officer of Polygon Labs, and Ryan Selkis, CEO of Messari, to discuss how politics impacts crypto policy. About 15% of Americans, including about a quarter of Millennial voters, own, trade, or use cryptocurrencies: Can they become a unified voting bloc?
State of Crypto Policy Summit: SEC and CFTC Commissioners Speak (11 a.m. CDT • 12 p.m. EDT)
Hester Pierce and Summer Mersinger, commissioners of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), respectively, will discuss where the US is going wrong with cryptocurrency regulation and how to get the largest economy back on track of the world .
Digital Asset ETFs: A New Frontier, 10 Years in the Making (12 p.m. CDT • 1 p.m. EDT)
It took more than a decade for the first spot bitcoin ETF to launch in the United States, but just a few weeks to establish itself as some of the most attractive investment vehicles this year. Asset managers from BNY Mellon, BlackRock, Bitwise and Fidelity will discuss the direction of the market going forward and the prospects of launching an Ethereum spot ETF this year.
The Prometheum Perspective (4:10 pm CDT • 5:10 pm EDT)
In an industry as controversial as cryptocurrency, perhaps no startup is more controversial than Prometheum, the special purpose broker dealer that wants to list “crypto asset securities,” including Ethereum. Co-CEO Aaron Kaplan will provide his perspective on why cryptocurrencies need regulated entities to run the show.
Can DeFi scale? (10:10 a.m. CDT • 11:10 a.m. EDT)
MakerDAO founder Rune Christensen and decentralized finance expert at The Defiant Camila Russo will discuss whether decentralized finance lives up to its promise of empowerment and how it can maintain its ideals as it continues to expand globally.
Bringing the Next Trillions of Dollars of Assets on-Chain (12:45 pm CDT • 1:45 pm EDT)
Real-world assets, or traditional financial products brought on-chain, are one of the fastest-growing sectors in the digital asset space, so much so that BlackRock CEO Larry Fink believes tokenization will soon consume the world. Founders of three of the hottest RWA startups, Centrifuge, Superstate and Maple Finance, will discuss where this transformation is going.
Memecoin: shiny objects or serious business? (3:30pm CDT • 4:30pm EDT)
Crypto projects that start as jokes sometimes evolve and pursue plausible use cases like digital identity or tokenization, and even assets with no apparent utility can attract smart money.