The Stevens Center hosts this ongoing series for Wharton students, featuring leaders in the world of financial technology. Past lecturers have come from the CFTC, Circle, the Department of Justice, and Cravath, Swaine, and Moore LLP.
The FinTech Lecture Series has concluded for the 2023-2024 school year. Stay tuned for upcoming lectures after summer vacation.
Recent Events
FinTech Lecture Series with Jorge Herrada
The Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance welcomed Jorge Herrada, director of the CFTC’s Office of Technology Innovation, to Wharton for the final FinTech Lecture Series installment of the school year.
Jorge Herrada is the director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Office of Technology Innovation (the successor to CFTC’s LabCFTC). This office serves as the CFTC’s financial technology innovation hub, driving change and enhancing knowledge through innovation, consulting and collaboration, and education. Jorge completed a detail as the Senior Technology Advisor to the TechLab at the Federal Reserve Board, where he helped to guide the vision and experiments regarding Central Bank Digital Currency. Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Board, Jorge served for four years as the Senior Technology Advisor for LabCFTC, where he focused on innovation, advanced technology, analytics, finance, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), and cryptocurrencies.
FinTech Lecture Series with Sanjeev Bhasker
Thank you for joining the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance on March 22 for our FinTech Lecture with Sanjeev Bhasker, U.S. Digital Currency Counsel with the Department of Justice.
Sanjeev Bhasker serves as U.S. Digital Currency Counsel with the US Department of Justice’s Digital Currency Initiative, providing legal guidance and support to investigators, prosecutors, and government agencies on cryptocurrency prosecutions, seizures, and forfeitures. He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, providing trial and appellate litigation throughout the United States. During this exciting presentation, Sanjeev discussed anti-money laundering and the lawsuits surrounding Sam Bankman Fried of FTX, and Binance.
FinTech Lecture Series with Heath Tarbert
Thank you for joining us on January 24 for our FinTech Lecture with Dr. Heath Tarbert!
Heath Tarbert is chief legal officer and head of corporate affairs at Circle, a global financial technology firm that enables businesses of all sizes to harness the power of stable coins and public blockchains for payments and commerce. Prior to joining Circle, Dr. Tarbert was chief legal officer of Citadel Securities, where he was responsible for the firm’s global legal, compliance, surveillance, and regulatory affairs functions.
Tarbert served as the 14th Chairman and a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Prior to leading the CFTC, he served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets and Development and as acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs.
FinTech Lecture Series with Scott Bennett: Are Digital Assets ‘Securities’ and Why does it Matter?
Thank you for joining us on November 9 for our FinTech Lecture Series installment with Scott Bennett, partner at Cravath, Swaine, and Moore LLP.
Scott Bennett primarily focuses his practice on representing issuers and investment banking firms in connection with public and private offerings of securities, other financing transactions and general corporate matters. Mr. Bennett advises clients across a broad range of industries encompassing traditional areas and emerging technologies. He has notable experience counseling early‑stage and venture capital‑backed companies in the technology, fintech and crypto, shipping and renewables space.
Fireside Chat: Bloomberg’s Matt Levine in Conversation with Professor Jeremy Siegel
Thursday, October 19, 5:15 p.m.
Ambani Auditorium, Jon M. Huntsman Hall
Thank you for joining us October 19 for this special fireside chat featuring Bloomberg’s Matt Levine in conversation with Professor Jeremy Siegel. View photos from this lecture here.
Matt Levine is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist who writes the daily Money Stuff newsletter. A former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, he was also previously a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Wachtell Lipton, a clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit an editor of Dealbreaker and a high school Latin teacher.
Jeremy Siegel is the Russell E. Palmer Professor Emeritus of Finance at the Wharton School. He also serves as academic director of Wharton’s Securities Industry Institute and senior investment strategy advisor for WisdomTree Investments. Siegel has written and lectured extensively about the economy and financial markets. He has published two books, The Future for Investors and Stocks for the Long Run, the latter of which was named among the 10 best investment books of all time by the Washington Post and Businessweek. He is a regular contributor to the financial news media, appearing on CNN, CNBC, and NPR.
John Coates: Deputy Dean and Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard Law School Author of the newly published book, The Problem of Twelve
John Coates is the John F. Cogan, Jr. Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard Law School, where he also serves as Deputy Dean and Research Director of the Center on the Legal Profession. Professor Coates served as General Counsel and as Acting Director for the Division of Corporation Finance for the SEC. Before joining Harvard, he was a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, specializing in financial institutions and M&A. At HLS and at HBS, he teaches corporate governance, M&A, finance, and related topics. He has testified before Congress, advised the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Department of Treasury, and the New York Stock Exchange, and served as the Chair of the Investor-as-Owner Subcommittee of the Investor Advisory Committee of the SEC. John Coates is the John F. Cogan, Jr. Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard Law School, where he also serves as Deputy Dean and Research Director of the Center on the Legal Profession. Professor Coates’s most recent publication is The Problem of Twelve: When a Few Financial Institutions Control Everything.
Waleed Y.W. Haj Hasan: The Regulation of Digital Assets: A Turf War Over, Already, Shifting Sands
Waleed Y.W. Haj Hasan is a Fellow at The Wharton School (under, both, the Finance Department’s Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance and the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation). He is, simultaneously, pursuing his doctorate in an Economic Analysis of Monetary Law and Policy at Penn Carey Law. Waleed is an Attorney and Counselor-at-Law in the State of NY and was, previously, an Associate Attorney (Corporate) at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP for two years. He earned his LL.M., with the Wharton Business and Law Certificate, from the University of Pennsylvania (2020) and his LL.B. (Hons.) from the University of Edinburgh (2019). Waleed holds several Teaching Assistant positions at both the Law School and The Wharton School. During his doctorate, Waleed interned at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for six months; having, previously, externed at the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General and interned at Baker Botts LL.P.
Chris Brummer: Disclosure, Dapps and DeFi
Chris Brummer is the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Financial Chris Brummer is the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Financial Technology at Georgetown University Law Center and the Faculty Director of Georgetown’s Institute of International Economic Law. As a professor, advisor, board member and advocate, Chris has lent his expertise to policymakers, founders, startups, and nonprofits around the world grappling with some of the most challenging puzzles facing innovation, regulation, and inclusion. His work has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, Marketwatch, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Yahoo Money, Roll Call, Cointelegraph, and Coin Desk, among others.Technology at Georgetown University Law Center and the Faculty Director of Georgetown’s Institute of International Economic Law. As a professor, advisor, board member and advocate, Chris has lent his expertise to policymakers, founders, startups, and nonprofits around the world grappling with some of the most challenging puzzles facing innovation, regulation, and inclusion. His work has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, Marketwatch, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Yahoo Money, Roll Call, Cointelegraph, and Coin Desk, among others.
