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Move Anywhere
Talks about Move, Blockchain and Security
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Alpen Sheth
Strategic Advisor at Mercy Corps Ventures
Miami, Florida
Overview
Alpen Sheth, a MIT alum and VC, is currently a Partner & Head of Policy and Research at Borderless Capital, where he leads strategic initiatives to accelerate global financial inclusion. With a background in international development and policy analysis, Alpen has held key roles at organizations like Mercy Corps Ventures and World Economic Forum, contributing to the advancement of blockchain technology and digital currency governance.
Work Experience
Partner & Head of Policy and Research
2022 - Current
Senior Principal, Head of Policy & Research
2021 - 2022
Borderless Capital is a Web3-native investment manager with focus on fostering dynamic blockchain ecosystems.
Strategic Advisor
2021
Senior Technologist, Blockchain & Cofounder, FinX
2020 - 2021
Co-founded and lead FinX, an Initiative to accelerate universal financial inclusion with crypto and blockchain-based products and services through investments, pilots and building ecosystems for millions of unbanked and underbanked populations and businesses. FinX teams work across Latin America, Sub-saharan Africa, the Middle East and Asia to pilot and scale high-quality crypto solutions from self-hosted wallets, DeFi treasury and savings, stablecoin remittances, streaming payment, smart contract insurance, NFTs and more. Mercy Corps Ventures has a global network of financial inclusion advisors, fintech incubators (such as the Catalyst Fund, IDEO CoLab Ventures, and the Digital Financial Solutions Lab), and are leading financial inclusion policy and advisory for global consortia including the World Economic Forum, Diem Association and Celo’s Alliance for Prosperity.
Mercy Corps Ventures is the impact investing arm of Mercy Corps.
Council Member, Digital Currency Governance Committee
2020
Council Member, Global Future Council, Cryptocurrency
2020 - 2022
Member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Cryptocurrency
Founding Advisor
2018
Board Member, Social Impact Advisory
2021 - 2021
Council Member
2019 - 2021
Senior Technologist, Blockchain
2019 - 2020
Lead policy and technology strategy for Mercy Corps' blockchain and cryptocurrency initiatives and programs. Mercy Corps has ~6,000 staff working in over 40 countries globally, with an extensive presence in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. We work with under-served populations and last-mile communities to provide aid and build capacity with emerging technologies.
Mercy Corps is a global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.
Visiting Faculty, School of Business & College of Urban and Public Affairs
2017 - 2020
Teach Executive Education in Blockchain and Emerging Technologies and curriculum development for new undergraduate and graduate programs in (1) Business Blockchain Certificate and (2) Emergency Management and Community Resilience.
Product Manager
2018 - 2019
▪ Manage product development using emerging technologies (blockchain and smart contracts): ▪ Lead development for blockchain insurance products in several countries focusing on financial analysis, feature specifications, pricing models and go-to-market strategy. ▪ Lead distributed agile engineering and UX team building on public and private blockchains for executing smart contracts and delivered using AWS servers for microservices/APIs for products, including: (1) first blockchain-based parametric hurricane insurance product for licensing and distribution in the Caribbean market; (2) Hyperledger Fabric-Ethereum product for supply chain risk. ▪ Manage new business partnerships and relations with customers and supported funding round with media engagements, new partnerships and marketing.
CSO, Co-Founder
2016 - 2018
▪ Led operational growth from inception to 10 engineers and managed team building a scalable inter-blockchain protocol for smart contracts. ▪ Cofounder and Board Treasurer.
Economic Space Agency develops platforms for distributed economic alliances and innovative economic protocols.
PhD Researcher
2012 - 2017
Design and conducted qualitative/quantitative research examining global adoption of emerging technologies. Teaching Assistant for following courses: • Game Theory and Microeconomics • International Development • Public Policy and Planning • Research Methods in the Social Sciences • Spatial Statistics and Hazard Mapping • Disaster Resilience • Planning Economics: Regulation, Taxation and Real Estate