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.

​Learn the system you're about to inherit.

​Agenda highlights:

• ​DeFi Then, Now and Moving Forward

• ​Policy 101: Who Sets the Rules for DeFi?

• ​Curriculum 2.0: What Should Universities Teach About the Future of Finance?

• ​Everything, Tokenized: What Happens When Assets Move Onchain?

• ​Breaking Things on Purpose: How Do We Build Financial Systems We Can Trust?

• ​From Campus to Company: Building Before You Have It All Figured Out

• ​AI Agents and Autonomous Finance

• ​Web3 career pathways

• ​Beyond Betting: The Case for Prediction Markets

​Confirmed speakers:

• ​Orest Gavryliak - Chief Legal Officer, 1inch

• ​Brian Nistler - Head of Policy/AGC, Protocol Growth, Uniswap

• ​Marius Smith - Co-founder, Ethereum Institutional

• ​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 Retting, Global Head of Policy & Government Affairs, Rain

• ​Kartik Talwar - Co-founder, ETHGlobal

• ​Karim Hassan, Enterprise Solutions Specialist, Dune

• ​Sid Shah - Director, Areta

• ​Gregory Johnson - Adjunct Professor, NYU

• ​Ronghui Gu - CS Associate Professor Columbia University, Co-founder of CertiK

• ​Gilberto Nazario - Founder of Web3DC, Stand With Crypto - Marlyand Chapter President

• ​Jenn Senhaji, Head of BD, Chronicle Labs

• ​Liam Glennon, Head of North America Financial Institutions, TRM

• ​Patrick Drummond, Manager at Forensic Risk Alliance

• ​Hugo Stack, Co-Founder of Mecone

• ​Alexei Falin, 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

• ​Robert Chen, Ottersec, CEO

• ​Fiona Brennan, Co-founder, Cara Global

​Join students from: University of Pennsylvania, NYU, Berkley, University of Maryland, George Mason University, Indiana University, Yale University, Harvard and more

Expect thoughtful conversations, practical insights, and meaningful connections with the people shaping 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.

​Thank you to our community partners:
- Maryland Blockchain Association
- DCDAO

And media partners:
- INPUT
- YAP Global