Thursday, February 24, 2022
WDAC Team
Wharton Digital Assets Club (WDAC) Inaugural Event
WDAC (a WSC initiative) invites all Wharton and Penn alumni and students worldwide for their inaugural virtual event featuring prominent leaders from traditional finance who were early adopters of blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital assets.
When: Thursday, February 24, 2022
Time: 4-6pm PST
Format: Moderated virtual panel with 5 speakers
Location: Zoom (link will be provided to registrants prior to the event)
Who: Only Wharton or Penn alumni worldwide.
Cost: Paid members of WSC $0; Others: $10
The reach of this affinity group is global. Wharton alumni worldwide are encouraged to purchase a Regular Membership in WSC that will provide member pricing for all virtual events hosted by WDAC and WSC.
All attendees will earn 500 Kash Kredit tokens. You will automatically receive redemption instructions after the event. Additionally, any crypto project interested in providing promotional tokens for future WDAC events can reach out to [email protected]
IMPORTANT: Wharton or Penn alumni who responded to an earlier WDAC survey DO NOT NEED TO REGISTER. You will receive a separate communication from WDAC on how to participate. You may want to purchase a membership in WSC for future events.
Moderator
Mark Yusko (CEO and CIO of Morgan Creek Capital Management; Managing Partner at Morgan Creek Digital Assets)
Mark Yusko has been at the forefront of institutional investing throughout his career. As an early investor in alternative asset classes at Notre Dame, he brought the Endowment Model of investing to UNC which contributed to significant performance gains for the Endowment. The Endowment Model is the cornerstone philosophy of Morgan Creek, as is the mandate to Invest in Innovation. Mr. Yusko is again at the forefront of investing through Morgan Creek Digital Assets, which was formed in 2018. Morgan Creek Digital is an early-stage investor in blockchain technology, digital currency, and digital assets through the firm’s Venture Capital and Digital Asset Index Fund.
Prior to founding Morgan Creek, Mr. Yusko was CIO and Founder of UNC Management Company (UNCMC), the Endowment investment office for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before that, he was Senior Investment Director for the University of Notre Dame Investment Office. Mr. Yusko received a BA with Honors from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Chicago.
Panelists
Nisa Amoils (Managing Partner at A100x Ventures; Advisor to Dragonfly Capital)
Nisa Amoils invests in early-stage blockchain, crypto, and NFT companies focused on social impact and diversity at A100x Ventures and Dragonfly Capital. She has been investing in blockchain since 2016. Previously, Nisa invested in technology at Scout Ventures and practiced securities law at Anderson Kill. She is FINRA licensed. Nisa has been honored as Business Insider’s Women VC’s to Watch, 2021 Systematic Leader in Asset Management, Top 100 Women in Fintech, and Top 50 Global Blockchain Thinkers. She serves on the board of Wharton Entrepreneurship, Global Digital Assets and Crypto Association, Girls Who Invest, and Nightfood (NGTF).
Prior to investing, Nisa spent many years at media companies including Time Warner and NBC Universal. She holds a business degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jasmine Jia (Senior Vice President, Business Development and Operations at BlockFi | nb)
Jasmine oversees the business development, strategic planning, and operations of BlockFi | nb, a partnership between BlockFi and Neuberger Berman.
BlockFi | nb manages crypto asset management products, which combine BlockFi’s crypto expertise with Neuberger Berman’s institutional rigor to provide investors around the world with cost-effective and convenient access to the performance of digital assets. Prior to joining BlockFi, Jasmine had over ten years of experience working with registered and unregistered funds, insurance companies, and banks. She also advised alternative fund managers in the launches of their first crypto investment funds.
Jasmine is a Wharton MBA and a CPA. She graduated with a Master of Accountancy and a Bachelor in Finance.
Tom Shaughnessy (Co-founder Delphi Digital)
Tom Shaughnessy was the founder and lead crypto analyst at 51percent Crypto Research before merging and becoming a part of the Delphi Digital team. Currently, Tom helps lead Delphi Ventures, the firm's venture fund which focuses on pre-seed and seed-stage investments across the entire stack from various L1s to their respective app layers. The firm manages its own capital and is primarily focused on helping its portfolio companies with token economics and strategy.
Tom also hosts The Delphi Podcast which features top founders of major projects. Prior to Delphi Digital, Tom was on the cloud and communications equity research team at Oppenheimer. Tom’s coverage at Oppenheimer included cloud companies (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure), wireless companies (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint), and various infrastructure providers including data centers and tower companies. In this role, he performed extensive financial modeling work for each company while also researching and writing numerous white papers with the team spanning 5G, NFV/SDN, and other tech-focused topics. In 2018, Tom also co-authored an extensive 100+ page crypto/blockchain white paper exploring the dynamics of cloud companies and blockchain.
Dan Tapiero (CEO and Managing Partner of 10T)
Dan brings 30 years of experience in macro and commodity investing and trading, research and economics, as well as entrepreneurship. Before founding 10T, Dan was the managing partner of DTAP Capital Advisors, a global macro investment fund, that he founded in 2003. He is also the co-founder of Gold Bullion International (GBI), which expanded into the cryptocurrency universe in 2014, and Agricultural Company of America (AGCoA), one of the largest farmland REITs in the U.S. at the time of its sale in 2013.
Dan graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University, where he earned his B.A.'90 and M.A.'91 in European History. Dan is on the Board of Trustees of the Lawrenceville School currently leads the Investment Committee for its endowment.
Paul Veradittakit (Partner at Pantera Capital)
Paul Veradittakit focuses on venture capital and hedge fund investments at Pantera Capital, the earliest and largest institutional investor in digital currencies and blockchain technologies. Since joining in 2014, Paul has helped to launch the firm’s second venture fund and currency funds, executing over 100 investments. Paul also sits on the board of Staked, Blockfolio, and Alchemy, is a mentor at The House Fund, Boost VC, and Alchemist, and is an advisor to Orchid, Origin, and AI Foundation.
Prior to joining Pantera, Paul worked at Strive Capital as an Associate focusing on investments in the mobile space, including an early-stage investment in App Annie. Previously, Paul was at Hatch Consulting and LECG and performed partnerships and growth for Urban Spoils, an early-stage startup in the daily deal space. Paul graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.
