Leadership
The DLT Science Foundation was founded and is led by Dr. Paolo Tasca and Nikhil Vadgama, born out of their desire to speed up the adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in both business and society and to facilitate complex, non-linear interactions and co-creation processes between academia, industry, and government.
Paolo Tasca
Founder and Chairman
Paolo Tasca
Dr. Paolo Tasca is a Professor at University College London and a digital economist with a specialisation in distributed systems. He is also the founder of the award-winning UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies, ranked seventh best university globally for blockchain and largest academic research centres in the blockchain field. In addition to his academic achievements, Dr. Tasca is a seasoned blockchain entrepreneur with several successful exits and has served as a special advisor on blockchain technologies for a variety of government and industry stakeholders worldwide, including the United Nations, and several central banks.
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Founder
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Nikhil Vadgama
Nikhil Vadgama serves as the Programme Director of the award-winning Master in Financial Technology at University College London, and as the Deputy Director of the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies. With extensive experience working with global stakeholders from government, industry, and central banks, Nikhil's background spans a variety of roles in the fintech, real estate, and education sectors including launching a challenger Bank in the UK, Europe and US.
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The DSF is supported by a network of leading industry and academic experts from across the globe.
Boris Battistini
Advisory Board Member
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Boris Battistini
Dr. Boris Battistini is a Director at Metellus AG, a private investment office in Zurich, specialised in venture capital, private equity and direct investments. He was a Senior Research Fellow in Entrepreneurship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and a Co-Founder of the ETH Corporate Innovation Lab. He was a Co-Founder and Board Director of the Swiss Finance and Technology Association and led the Global Corporate Venturing Initiative of Bain&Co and ETH.
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Advisory Board Member
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Dante Mossi
An economist, international civil servant, and diplomat, who has served as the Executive President in effect the Chief Executive Officer of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). He also held senior positions at the World Bank.
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Advisory Board Member
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Dr. Veronica Lange da Conceição
Veronica is an experienced digital innovation leader and strategic advisor in the financial services sector. She served the over 20 years in global leadership roles at UBS and Barclays. She spearheaded the UBS blockchain lab starting in 2015, and has provided support to numerous start-ups and entrepreneurs with dedicated programs, being a driver for ecosystem partnerships and an open and inclusive future of finance.
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Advisory Board Member
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Jason Loh
Over the course of my 25 year career, I have founded 4 startups and a non-profit, and led M&A and venture investments for an investment fund. My industry experience is in Web3, e-commerce, and real estate; with a particular focus on leveraging Web3 technologies to tackle challenges in climate change and financial inclusion.
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Advisory Board Member
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Marcus Treacher
Marcus Treacher is a global payments and blockchain expert, with 30 years' experience building international businesses focused on digital and emerging technology payment infrastructure. Marcus has held global leadership roles with household names such as Citigroup, HSBC, and blockchain disruptor Ripple, and has served on the boards of SWIFT, CHAPS and RippleNet. He currently sits on the board of CB Growth Holdings, the parent company of ClearBank, and RTGS Global advising on strategic growth.
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Advisory Board Member
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Ralf Glabischnig
Ralf Glabischnig has over two decades of experience in leading and building technology companies and is at the forefront of the largest global blockchain ecosystems: Crypto Valley (Switzerland & Liechtenstein) and Crypto Oasis (Middle East). As founder, partner, and major shareholder of more than 20 companies and investor in 130+ startups through various venture capital structures, he is actively shaping the future of WEB3.
CloseSamuel Chadwick
Advisory Board Member
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Samuel Chadwick
As head of the UBS Next Incubator, an internal corporate accelerator, Samuel is ideally placed to help the DSF bring novel DLT-focused ideas to market, Having joined UBS in 2019 as the Head of the DLT Center of Excellence, UBS was recognised by Forbes as a Top 50 company in the field of blockchain. Previously head of the blockchain strategy at Refinitiv, a global provider of financial market data and infrastructure, he also co-founded the Crypto Valley Association in Switzerland.
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The Research Council of the DLT Science Foundation is composed of accomplished academics and researchers who advise the direction of research at the Foundation. They leverage their expertise, backgrounds, and networks to identify key areas of scientific exploration in the field of blockchain and distributed ledger technology.
Jiahua Xu
Head of Science
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Jiahua Xu
Dr. Jiahua Xu is a Lecturer in Financial Computing at UCL, where she teaches Blockchain Technologies and Machine Learning in Finance. She is an award-winning researcher at the university's Centre for Blockchain Technologies, and serves as the Programme Director of the MSc Emerging Digital Technologies under the Computer Science Department. Author of over 10 academic papers in DLT, Dr. Xu teaches FinTech courses at numerous prominent global institutions.
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Research Council Member
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Carol Alexander
Professor of Finance at the University of Sussex, Co-Editor of the Journal of Banking and Finance. She is an expert in fintech, blockchain finance and cryptocurrency markets, indexing, derivatives, volatility trading, asset pricing, risk premia, investment strategies, risk management and portfolio management.
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Research Council Member
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Kevin Werbach
Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and former Counsel for New Technology Policy at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. He served on the Obama Administration's Presidential Transition Team and founded the Supernova Group.
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At the heart of the foundation, you’ll find a talented, collaborative and decentralised team of individuals whose dedication brings to life the bold vision to change the world with emerging technologies. Bringing together academics, developers, and multidisciplinary experts, we take pride in being open, connected, and inclusive - while taking an evidence-first decision-making approach to deliver each one’s best work.
Paolo Tasca
Dr. Paolo Tasca is a Professor at University College London and a digital economist with a specialisation in distributed systems. He is also the founder of the award-winning UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies, ranked seventh best university globally for blockchain and largest academic research centres in the blockchain field.In addition to his academic achievements, Dr. Tasca is a seasoned blockchain entrepreneur with several successful exits and has served as a special advisor on blockchain technologies for a variety of government and industry stakeholders worldwide, including the United Nations, and several central banks.Victoria has been listed on Innovate Finance’s Women in Fintech Power list on multiple occasions. She was nominated for UK’s Innovation Counsel of the Year award prior to leaving Barclays for her work helping to launch the Barclays Female Innovators Lab and has been named as one of the most influential women in blockchain by UK Government’s APPG on Blockchain and AI – which has led her to give evidence and attend multiple UK Government advisory committee hearings.
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