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Meet the Expert: Alexandra Damsker on Building the Future of Fintech with Decentralized Finance

Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Intermediate content levelIntermediate

Explore the world of DeFi and the building blocks to getting started

Already a rapidly growing field in fintech, decentralized finance (DeFi) has exploded in the last year, growing from a market cap of $700 million in December 2019 to $100 billion as of April 29, 2021. The DeFi derivatives market alone has grown from $132 million in TVL (total value locked) in May 2020 to $2.78 billion one year later—a 210x increase. So there’s no better time to get acquainted with the fastest growing industry in the fintech space

Join us for this edition of Meet the Expert with Alexandra Damsker to learn the ins and outs of decentralized finance. In just an hour, you’ll get an overview of the DeFi marketplace (and its potential), explore the key building blocks of DeFi applications, find out what problems remain unsolved, and get a glimpse of where DeFi is headed. Plus you’ll get the chance to ask Alexandra your questions on decentralized finance, fintech, and beyond.

O'Reilly Meet the Expert explores emerging business and technology topics and ideas through a series of one-hour interactive events. You’ll engage in a live conversation with experts, sharing your questions and ideas while hearing their unique perspectives, insights, fears, and predictions.

What you’ll learn and how you can apply it

  • What DeFi is
  • Why it’s important to move beyond the banking system
  • The main tools for building a useful, functional DeFi application
  • Issues that still need to be addressed in the nascent industry

This live event is for you because...

  • You’re a technical developer who wants to better understand the employment and entrepreneurial opportunities that exist in the fastest growing industry in the fintech space.
  • You’re an investor who wants to learn about new opportunities to build generational wealth that previously had only been available to the very wealthy or those with privileged financial educations.
  • You want to discover the key risks of DeFi projects and the challenges for the wider industry that remain unresolved.

Prerequisites

  • Come with your questions for Alexandra Damsker
  • Have a pen and paper handy to capture notes, insights, and inspiration

Recommended follow-up:

Schedule

The time frames are only estimates and may vary according to how the class is progressing.

Thursday, September 9, 2021, at 9:00am PT / 12:00pm ET

  • Introduction and presentation (15 minutes)
  • Interactive discussion and Q&A (45 minutes)

Your Guest

Alexandra Damsker

Alexandra Damsker is an experienced securities attorney; she trained at the US Securities and Exchange Commission and international firm Mayer Brown and runs a very successful solo practice with clients in eight countries, grown entirely by referral and word of mouth. She’s a 2x founder (one exit) and has been involved in blockchain since 2016. A subject matter expert in blockchain best practices, cryptocurrency, NFTs, DeFi, and general token offerings, she serves as legal, operations, and strategic advisor to a number of organizations and high-net-worth individuals, including high-growth venture-funded companies and A-level celebrities. Alexandra is a well-regarded speaker on regulatory issues and strategy in the blockchain industry and has given talks to a wide array of organizational clients and conferences, including Nasdaq, the LendIt Fintech conference, the PG gaming conference, a fintech securities conference in Copenhagen, an official Davos World Economic Forum event, the Opal private and family office conference, the Association of Independent Music Producers, the 2021 Fintech and Financing Conference, the Securities and Tokenization Summit, SOURCE Nashville, and many more. Her regulatory views in the area have been published in American Banker.

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Skill covered

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)