These 21 Leading Crypto Industry Players to Advise OECD on Blockchain

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has recruited some of the biggest names in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to advise it on blockchain-related matters and distributed ledger innovations.

The international organization will seek tips from players such as Joe Lubin of ConsenSys, as well as key execs at eToro, Bitfury and Ripple – and made its intentions clear in a post on its website.

The full list of experts in the OECD advisory group is available here. It includes a few surprise names – including two Facebook executives tasked with creating the forthcoming Libra cryptocurrency and the accompanying Calibra wallet.

The group is named the Blockchain Expert Policy Advisory Board (BEPAB), and its creation follows on from the OECD’s decision to launch a Blockchain Policy Centre in 2018.

The policy unit has been tasked with co-ordinating OECD’s work on blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies. The BEPAB comprises figures from 45 OECD and non-OECD nations, as well as representatives from the European Commission, the private sector, industry bodies, and civil groups.

The organization says the group’s initial focus will be “scoping the issues relevant to an international framework of blockchain policy principles,” and says the experts held an initial, behind-closed-doors meeting in December 2019.

Aerdt Houben, Director of Financial Markets at De Nederlandsche Bank and Chair of the OECD Committee on Financial Markets, stated,

“We are engaging with a diverse group of experts and innovators in developing principles to guide governments and industry in pursuit of viable blockchain innovation and adoption.”

Here are a few of the biggest crypto industry experts included in the group’s membership:

• Ben Yablon, Chairman and Co-founder of SALT, a lending platform providing blockchain-backed loans.
• Bertrand Perez, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer at the Libra Association, the group that is to oversee Facebook’s designed digital token.
• Diego Guttierez-Aldviar, CEO and Co-founder of RIF/RSK Labs, the designer of the RSK smart contracts platform.
• Frank Ricotta, CEO and Founder of blockchain enablement company BurstIQ.
• Heather Dahl, Executive Director and CEO of the Sovrin Foundation, an international non-profit organization that governs the world’s first self-sovereign identity (SSI) network.
• Irene Adamski, who is responsible for Partnership and Development at Jolocom, developer of a decentralized self-sovereign identity solution.
• Isabelle Corbett, Head of Regulatory Affairs and GovTech at blockchain & DLT software development company R3.
• Joseph Lubin, CEO and Founder of ConsenSys.
• Jutta Steiner, CEO and Co-founder of blockchain infrastructure company Parity Tech.
• Lawrence Lundy-Bryan, Partner and Head of Research at tech-focused venture platform Outlier Ventures.
• Leanne Kemp, CEO of Everledger, a digital transparency startup.
• Lee Schneider, General Counsel at EOS blockchain software developer block.one.
• Leena Im, who is responsible for Global Payments Policy at Facebook’s wallet app Calibra.
• Matt Curcio, Data Vice President at liquidity provider Ripple.
• Moisés Menéndez Andrés, Co-Founder of blockchain-focused venture builder company IoBuilders.
• Olaf Ransome, Chief Commercial Officer at blockchain-focused fintech firm Fnality.
• Simon Chantry, CBDO of blockchain-based payments fintech BITT.
• Stein Bjørnstad, Chief Commercial Officer of blockchain company Blockchangers.
• Steven Becker, President and COO of MakerDAO, the developer of the Dai token.
• Valery Vavilov, CEO of Bitfury.
• Yoni Assia, CEO of cryptocurrency and stock trading platform eToro.