Cryptocurrencies and the Future of Fintech, JRCPPF Alumni Forum

Princeton Reunions 2021
JRCPPF Alumni Forum

PANELISTS

Ben Davenport '98 is the founder and former CTO of BitGo, the leading wallet security & infrastructure company for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Previously, he co-founded Beluga, which was acquired by Facebook and became the basis for Facebook Messenger. Previously, at Google, he helped build the first versions of AdSense. He started his career as an engineer at Microsoft. He is an active angel investor, having invested in 80+ companies.

Shiv Dutt '11 graduated Princeton with a degree in math. He spent the next decade working at the intersection of finance and technology at various hedge funds, investment banks (Goldman Sachs), commercial banks, consulting companies, and startups. Since 2017, Shiv has been immersed in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, building out a cryptocurrency exchange, a blockchain payments platform (essentially a "Venmo for the banks") and a cryptocurrency market data index and platform for his company Tassat. In April 2021, Shiv left to launch his own venture.

Kimberly Quinones ‘82 is a director with the Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) and was the founding Executive Director of the NYC Blockchain Center, a public-private partnership with the NYC Economic Development Corporation. Her career has spanned the finance, government, and non-profit sectors. She spent three decades as a Public Finance banker in NY and LA, specializing in infrastructure and general fund financings for large and frequent issuers of municipal bonds. She also served as CFO of a NYS state public authority and in the Office of the Mayor of NYC. In the non-profit sector, she has been an advocate for women through her involvement in the Financial Women’s Association of NY and California Women Lead. She was a member of the board of governors of the Municipal Forum of NY, the Vanderbilt YMCA, the California Volunteers Commission (Gov. Brown) and the Committee on Fiscal and Economic Priorities (Gov. Cuomo).

Jeff Tang '09 started his high-frequency trading career at Getco in Chicago and Singapore where he traded on electronic exchanges in all three major time zones, four asset classes (equities, fixed income, commodities and FX) and three instrument types (cash, futures, and options). After a stint trading Asian markets at his proprietary trading firm Serenity, he transitioned to cryptocurrency trading where he has consulted for some of the larger trading firms in the space. Most recently, he started a crypto trading and investment firm Gravity. He lives in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico and graduated from Princeton in 2009 with a BSE in ORFE.

(moderator) Marina Finley '19 is a Treasury associate with GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. Previously she was an analyst with BNP Paribas. Marina is a founding member of the JRCPPF Alumni Forum and former Undergraduate Associate with longstanding interests in development, economic policy, and East Asia. She graduated from Princeton in 2019 with a B.A. from the School of Public and International Affairs with certificates in Mandarin Chinese, East Asian Studies and History & the Practice of Diplomacy.

(moderator) Abhiram Karuppur '19 is an Associate at Ara, where he is focused on transaction execution and portfolio company management. Previously he was an investment banking analyst at JP Morgan. He is a founding member of the JRCPPF Alumni Forum and was an active leader of the JRCPPF Undergraduate Associates, serving as Chair and Co-Chair from 2017-19. Abhiram graduated from Princeton in 2019 with a B.S.E in Chemical & Biological Engineering and certificates in Finance and Materials Science & Engineering.