Paul Brody is the Founder and CEO of Nightfall Networks, a blockchain technology company focused on building robust privacy systems for enterprise users. Prior to founding Nightfall, Paul was the global blockchain leader at Ernst & Young for over a decade, building up their business and making EY synonymous with leadership in blockchain technology and a focus on Ethereum and business applications. Paul is the author of Ethereum for Business. He is also the chairman of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and holds a degree in economics and a certificate in African Studies from Princeton University.

For TradFi leaders, meaningful participation in digital assets and on-chain finance depends on the infrastructure decisions they make long before products are launched. This working group focuses on the foundational capabilities—governance, custody, ledger architecture, risk, compliance, and operating models—that must be put in place to support real value, real clients, and real regulatory scrutiny. Rather than debating technologies or market hype, participants will pressure-test how today’s infrastructure choices lock in future control, scalability, and accountability, and identify what must be built now to position their institutions as credible, long-term stakeholders in on-chain financial markets. Discussion points include:

Marc Hochstein is a Vice President and Editor on the Research Team at Galaxy Digital. Before joining the firm, he worked for more than two decades as a financial journalist, most recently as deputy editor-in-chief at award-winning crypto news outlet CoinDesk. Earlier he worked in a variety of reporter and editor roles at TradFi publication American Banker, where he was responsible for some of the earliest serious mainstream coverage of Bitcoin.

Shaun Martinak serves as the Head of Tokenization at Coinbase. Previously a Portfolio and Research Manager at Coinbase Asset Management, he transitioned to engineering build the technology behind Coinbase Tokenize. Prior to Coinbase, Shaun ran cross-asset class global investment portfolios at two Canadian pension plans and began his career in finance at D.E. Shaw & Co.

Shaun is a co-author of multiple smart contract protocols, he holds degrees in Engineering, Mathematics and English from Columbia University and Business from NYU Stern.

Paul Vigna is the managing editor of American Banker. He has been a journalist for more than three decades, mostly with The Wall Street Journal, where he began covering bitcoin in 2013, one of the first mainstream reporters to do so. His coverage was instrumental in bringing awareness of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to professional, business-oriented audiences. Along with Michael Casey, he published “The Age of Cryptocurrency” in 2015, the first book about bitcoin from a Big Five publisher. They followed it up with “The Truth Machine” in 2018.

He was featured in two documentaries about crypto: “Banking on Bitcoin” (2016) and “Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It” (2015).

He has also published “The Almightier: How Money Became God, Greed Became Virtue, and Debt Became Sin” (2025) and “Guts: The Anatomy of The Walking Dead” (2017).

Strategic financial services executive with 15+ years of experience driving transformation, innovation, and business growth across global financial institutions. Currently leading the blockchain and digital asset strategy within BBVA Asset Management & Global Wealth, shaping the bank’s position at the forefront of tokenization and next-generation financial infrastructure.

Recognized for a strategic vision bridging technology, regulation, and business, and for fostering high-impact partnerships and ecosystems that accelerate digital transformation. Combines a strong foundation in control, governance, and risk management —gained through roles in internal audit and a Big Four firm —with a proven ability to execute complex projects, influence senior stakeholders, and translate innovation into measurable business value.

Known as a thought leader in international forums, with a reputation for clarity of vision, data-driven strategy, and disciplined execution in rapidly evolving financial environments.

Ryan is currently the Head of Digital Assets for Citibank’s business. The TTS team helps enable their global clients by simplifying the management of treasuries, payments and commerce on a day-to-day basis. Recently, Ryan and the team announced Citi Token Services, which is a pilot that enables clients to transfer liquidity between Citi branches on a 24/7 basis. The service uses blockchain and smart contract technologies to deliver digital asset solutions for institutional clients. Citi Token Services will integrate tokenized deposits and smart contracts into Citi’s global network, upgrading core cash management and trade finance capabilities.

In Ryan’s last role she was responsible for IBM’s America’s blockchain team, helping to enhance client’s solutions and capabilities for building Digital Ecosystems. She provided strategic guidance for; operational and governance considerations, technology roadmaps, and services infrastructure to help clients focused on TIPS (Tokenization, Identity, Provenance & Sustainability).

In addition, her team helped build New York’s Excelsior Pass (Digital Wallet for Vaccinations & PCR tests), which was groundbreaking with millions of users and will help serve as a framework to aid in the development and implementation of digital health credentials and beyond. The blueprint will help as a guide to assist other states, territories, and entities in the expansion of credential systems to advance economic development efforts nationwide.

Prior to that Ryan was the Global Head of Industry at R3 (Fintech Startup), where she sat at the forefront of blockchain innovation across multiple industries. She was responsible for the strategic direction of R3’s key verticals, helping industry leaders capture the full benefits of blockchain for their businesses. Ryan also launched the Centre of Excellence for distributed ledger technology (DLT) in cooperation with ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development).

Yuval is a visionary leader at the intersection of finance and technology.

Yuval co-founded Digital Asset in 2014 to harness the promise of blockchain technology to create an open financial network where value flows as freely as information on the internet.

As a Co-Founder and CEO of Digital Asset, Yuval has been instrumental in reshaping global finance by merging traditional systems with the power of decentralized technology. Yuval played a pivotal role in the formation of the Canton Network, the only public layer-one blockchain with privacy. He is also a Board Member and Treasurer of the Global Synchronizer Foundation, which he helped to create with the support of the Linux Foundation, to bring fair and transparent decentralized governance and organizational neutrality to the adoption and evolution of the Canton Network.

Yuval is a member of the Digital Asset Markets subcommittee of the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Global Market Advisory Committee and serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Blockchain Business Council, a leading industry association for the blockchain technology ecosystem. He has also testified before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion.

Before founding Digital Asset, Yuval gained extensive experience in finance and technology, holding key positions at Citadel and DRW Trading, where he managed an algorithmic trading desk and helped launch DRW Venture Capital.

Keith A. Grossman is a global leader in the rapidly evolving world of web3 where he leads the mass adoption of these new technologies for MoonPay.

Previously, Keith was the President of TIME, where he led TIME’s web3 endeavors and the organization since 2019.

TIME’s web3 strategy modernized the brand, producing eight figures of profit as it expanded from community building to B2B partnerships to enabling several NFT creators to develop their unique IP into animated series for TV with TIME Studios.

Prior to TIME, Keith served as the Global Chief Revenue Officer for Bloomberg Media where he was responsible for the growth of their various media platforms. He was also part of the core team to launch QuickTake by Bloomberg, a 24/7 social, mobile news platform. And, prior to Bloomberg, Keith was the Associate Publisher of WIRED as well as Ars Technica where he won two Project Isaac Awards for best Digital Inventions for his work on the WIRED Tablet Edition and Ars Accelerator.

He is a Board Member of New York Cares, New York’s largest volunteer network connecting individuals within their philanthropic passions and, previously, was an Adjunct Professor at NYU.

Cuy Sheffield is the VP and Head of Visa’s Crypto team. Leading the global crypto product team within the fintech product organization. Cuy is a fellow at the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute, a co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Cryptocurrencies and a member of the advisory group for the Digital Dollar Project. Before Visa, Cuy worked on business development and partnerships for TrialPay, a fintech startup that Visa acquired in 2015.