BlockFin Asia 2016

Nathan Lane heads the Economic Section at the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City.

Prior to Vietnamese training, he served as Special Assistant to Under Secretary Robert Hormats.

Previous assignments include the Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs, Minsk, the Operations Center, Moscow and Monterrey. He holds an M.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.A. from the University of Nebraska.

Sean Preston is Visa’s Country Manager for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, responsible for all aspects of Visa’s business in these fast-growing emerging economies.

Sean has had a diverse international career with more than 20 years’ experience in the banking and finance industry covering credit card portfolio development and management, loyalty, marketing, sales, operations, project management, process reengineering and vendor management.

A New Zealander, Sean holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Auckland University, a postgraduate Diploma in Banking from Massey University, and is a Fellow of the Financial
Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA).

Sandeep is Head of Retail Banking at VP Bank. He has been in this position since May 2015. Previously, Sandeep lived and worked in numerous countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the US.

His prior roles include consumer banking, wealth management and transformation roles at various international financial institutions starting with Citibank, Standard Bank, Barclays and AIA Group. He also served as Head of Retail at Shinsei Bank in Japan, one of the earliest, digitally-enabled banks in Japan, which was launched in 2001.

Sandeep is a Sloan Fellow and has an MBA from MIT, Sloan School of Management.

Chung leads the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions, IT/C, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare practices in Vietnam assisting companies such as eBay, Kirin, Valeant, Navis Capital, Diageo and Shiseido with acquisitions.

He was ranked as a Leading Lawyer by Chambers Asia, IFLR1000, Asia Pacific Legal 500 and Chambers Global as well as a Recommended Lawyer by Asia Pacific Legal and PLC Which Lawyer?.

Chung serves as vice president for Singapore Business Group as well as a member of Hong Kong Business Association Vietnam, American Chamber of Commerce, Law Society of Singapore and British Business Group Vietnam.

FPT Ventures is the venture arm of FPT Corporation, the leading ICT corporation in Vietnam. It supports startups by providing access to FPT's customer base, technology infrastructure, media and marketing resources. Launched in May 2015, the fund invests up to USD 1 million in early-stage Vietnam startups.

500 Startups is an early-stage venture capital firm and accelerator.

Eddie focuses on startups targeting or entering the Vietnamese market and leveraging Vietnamese talent.

He previously served as Director of Strategy and Corporate Development for CJ CGV Vietnam, and as Senior Analyst at Dean & Company Strategy Consultants.

DistributedLab is a research lab involved in the development of cutting-egde blockchain projects.

Pavel is a decentralized systems expert, university lecturer and public speaker. He serves as Vice Chancellor for Kharkiv National University of Radioelectronics.

Previously, he served as chief cryptographer for Tembusu Terminals Pte Ltd, and as cryptographer for Stellar Development Foundation.

Luis started working in the Blockchain remittance space in early 2014 and built one of the most recognizable brands. He popularized the term 'rebittance'​ to describe the token-to-cash solution that many similar young businesses around the world are currently offering.

His writing on the Blockchain and its impact on remittances and mobile money has been featured on Techcrunch, The Next Web, Tech in Asia and Rappler.

In 2015, Luis presented on these topics at the International Money Transfer Conference (IMTC) in Las Vegas and Miami, at the Brookings Blum Roundtable in Aspen, and at an industry conference in SIngapore.

Luis has been building tech startups in the Philippines for nearly a decade. He blogs at medium.com/@cryptonight

Dave Chapman is the Chief Operating Officer of ANX International, a financial technology company specialising in Blockchain technologies, digital assets and payment solutions. Supporting more than 1 million customers and employing over 100 staff, it is one of the largest technology companies in the world focused on Blockchain initiatives.

Prior to cofounding ANX International, Dave spent 12 years in investment banking and technology roles specialising in the analysis of low-latency pre-trade risk and order management systems. Throughout his banking career, Dave has been responsible for the design and implementation of a wide-ranging suite of trading platforms. He has managed large, global teams at HSBC, Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital, ABN Amro, Bear Stearns and other institutions.

Jerry is a financial technologist who has worked on Wall Street trading desks at Goldman Sachs and J. P. Morgan for a total of 14 years.

Experienced in derivative risk pricing systems and big bank politics, Jerry has turned to the field of financial monetary reform. He sees technology as a way to evolve the current monetary systems to one that is more fair and sustainable for the betterment of the under-served and the global economy.

Jerry is author of the monetary reformist blog WallStreetTechnologist.com and works on various blockchain-related projects in Asia. The most recent venture, Satoricoin.jp, is the first customizable physical Blockchain token aimed at the mass market.

Prior to starting Remitsy, Neil managed business development at the largest Blockchain exchange operator in China. He has a diverse background in manufacturing, logistics, and international trade.

Neil is a prominent member of China's FinTech community. He is fluent in Mandarin, having lived and worked in China since 2004.

Mona is an accomplished AML/KYC subject matter expert. She is the Director of Risk Management and Special Projects for ACCESS. Her work includes working with the Global Blockchain Forum to establish best practices and practical guidelines for consumers and businesses in this domain.

As director, Ham's credits include 'The Anniversary,' 'Journey From the Fall,' 'How to Fight in Six Inch Heels' and 'Hollow.'

Ham has produced and worked on numerous films, most notably: 'Owl and the Sparrow,' 'Oh, Saigon' and 'The Rebel.'

Nicole leads Cardano Labo's product marketing team and serves as the community outreach manager. She brings a wealth of experience from prior roles in both finance and consumer goods. Through her NGO project development work for Asian Development Bank and World Bank, Nicole brings in-depth domain knowledge of IT, financial technology and the local startup community.