Groundwork
What happens when you put students, professors, industry leaders & policymakers in the same room to talk about the future of decentralized finance?
💡That's Groundwork.
Rather than another industry conference, Groundwork is designed as a place for open dialogue. With panels, roundtables and networking, this one-day forum in partnership with Blockchain Association explores how industry and academia should build better bridges for teaching and responsibly integrating DeFi into the future of finance.
The event builds on the university initiative the 1inch team has been leading across the United States this year, including an open letter to universities co-signed by 20 leading crypto companies and ReDefine Money - the first book to tell the story of DeFi through the voices of its founders.
Learn the system you're about to inherit.
📅 Main stage agenda:
Welcome note [12:30]
DeFi Then, Now and Moving Forward [12:40-1:10 PM]
Policy 101: Who Sets the Rules for DeFi? [1:15-1:45]
Curriculum 2.0: What Should Universities Teach About the Future of Finance? [1:50-2:20]
Everything, Tokenized: What Happens When Assets Move Onchain? [3:00-3:30]
Breaking Things on Purpose: How Do We Build Financial Systems We Can Trust? [3:35-4:05]
From Campus to Company: Building Before You Have It All Figured Out [4:10-4:40]
AI Agents & Autonomous Finance [4:45-5:15]
💬 Roundtables:
Crypto 101: Wallets, Transactions & Your First Swap [1 PM, 3PM, 5PM]
Beyond Betting: The Case for Prediction Markets [1:00-1:45]
Who Makes The Rules? Policy, Protocols & Governance [2:00-2:45]
Ride The Wave or Build The Wave? How to Navigate Web3's Constant Reinvention [2:00-2:45]
Perpetuals 101: How Onchain Derivatives Actually Work [3:00-3:45]
Where Do I Fit? Careers in Digital Finance [4:00-4:45]
🎤 Speakers lineup:
Orest Gavryliak, Chief Legal Officer, 1inch
Brian Nistler, Head of Policy/AGC, Protocol Growth, Uniswap
Ian Carroll, Director, Technical Talent Acquisition, Circle
Coy Garrison, Senior Director and Deputy General Counsel for Crypto, Robinhood
Lindsay Fraser, Chief Policy Officer, The Blockchain Association
Jessica Martinez, US Policy Director, Fireblocks
Michael Mosier, Co-founder, Arktouros
Jason Gottlieb, Partner & Chair, Digital Assets, Morrison Cohen
Julie Lascar, Director, Policy and Government Affairs, Digital Asset
Erik Rettig, Global Head of Policy & Government Affairs, Rain
Kartik Talwar, Co-founder, ETHGlobal
Karim Hassan, Enterprise Solutions Specialist, Dune
Gregory Johnson, Adjunct Professor, NYU
Ronghui Gu, CS Associate Professor Columbia University, Co-founder of CertiK
Gilberto Nazario, Founder of Web3DC, Stand With Crypto - Maryland Chapter President
Liam Glennon, Head of North America Financial Institutions, TRM
Hugo Stack, Co-Founder of Mecone
Alexei Falin, COO, Aile / ex Co-Founder of Rarible
Derek Horstmeyer, Professor of Finance at George Mason University's Costello College of Business
Blake Duncan, the Lead Agent Experience Engineer, Alchemy
Robin D Hanson, Assoc. Professor, Economics, George Mason University
Harry Crane, Professor, Rutgers University
Casey Golden, Co-Founder & CEO, ZeroShadow
Kate Laurence, Founder, Bloccelerate
Shai Sand, Founder, Mom3ntum / ex CPTO FIFA Collect
Robert Chen, Ottersec, CEO
Fiona Brennan, Co-founder, Cara Global
Marko Stojanovic, President, Blockchain & Fintech Club at Fordham
Julie Bautista, Student, GWU Law
Nevan Sujit, Student, University of Pennsylvania
Steven Thornton, Security Research Manager, OpenZeppelin
Adam Rak, Executive Director, Blockchain Security Standards Council
Manuel Morales, Co-founder, Monolith / Associate Professor, Université de Montréal
Matt Snow, Strategic Partnerships, 1inch
Tanner Moore, DevRel, 1inch
Mary Pedler, Founder, INPUT
🍎 Students joining from:
University of Pennsylvania, NYU, Berkley, University of Maryland, George Mason University, Indiana University, Yale University, Harvard, Fordham University, Georgetown University and more
Thank you to our community partners:
And media partners: