XRPL Apex 2024: Announcing the Second Wave of Trailblazing Speakers

As the excitement builds for XRPL Apex 2024, we are thrilled to announce the second wave of visionary speakers who will join us in Amsterdam this June. These industry leaders are set to share their profound insights and pioneering innovations, continuing to shape the future of finance and blockchain technology.

XRPL Apex 2024, hosted by Ripple, promises to be the premier event for anyone passionate about the XRP Ledger and the broader blockchain community. From June 11th to 13th, the Postillion Hotel & Convention Centre in Amsterdam will transform into a hub of innovation, collaboration, and groundbreaking discussions. This year’s event will feature over 70 speakers and more than 40 sessions, making it the largest and most comprehensive XRPL Apex ever. Whether you’re a developer, entrepreneur, or enthusiast, XRPL Apex 2024 is your opportunity to connect with thought leaders and peers from around the globe.

Meet Our New Speakers

Marco Brondani, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Futureverse
Marco Brondani boasts over two decades of experience in technology and information security. As a co-founder and CTO of Futureverse, he is at the cutting edge of technological advancements, particularly in cybersecurity and innovative solutions. Known for his ethical hacking expertise, Marco has collaborated with various national and international security agencies and private companies to address identity theft, fraud, and anti-cyber-terrorism. An inventor with several registered patents, Marco is dedicated to driving forward the capabilities of embedded programming languages and natural language processing.

Reza Bashash, Co-Founder & CTO, Sologenic
Reza Bashash is an influential technologist and entrepreneur with two decades of experience in the tech industry. As the co-founder and CTO of Sologenic and Coreum, Reza is a leading figure in the fields of AI, fintech, and blockchain technology. His previous ventures include founding Inextweb, an AI-driven Natural Language Processing system, and Denote, an AI-based search engine. At Sologenic, Reza is pushing the boundaries of Real World Asset Tokenization (RWA), leveraging blockchain technology to bridge the gap between traditional finance and digital assets.

Frank Chaparro, Host of The Scoop, The Block
Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he became a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee.

Jasmine Cooper, Lead Product Manager & Head of DeFi Products, Ripple

Jasmine (Jazzi) Cooper is Ripple’s Head of DeFi Product where she leads tokenization and DeFi products within RippleX, the team focused on providing infrastructure, tools, services, and programs for developers to enable new crypto use cases on the XRP Ledger. Her most recent focuses have been adding a new, native NFT standard to the XRP Ledger as well as a native automated market-maker (AMM) protocol. Prior to joining Ripple, Jazzi spent several years in financial technology, serving as a product manager in mortgage tech and founding a company in the financial health space.

Crypto Eri, Co-Founder, Onami Press

Eri, an advocate for blockchain development, has been actively engaged in the digital asset creator economy since 2017. She co-founded Onami Press and currently serves as a director of the Wave of Innovation Annual Australian Conference. Passionate about decentralized ecosystems, Eri endeavors to advance the vision of a shared economy in the Web 3.0 world.

Michael Feng, Co-Founder, Hummingbot
Michael Feng co-founded Hummingbot, a leading open-source trading bot platform, and currently spearheads Botcamp, the educational arm of Hummingbot. With seven years of experience in structuring credit derivatives at Citigroup and JPMorgan, Michael brings a wealth of knowledge in financial engineering. Residing in Sunnyvale, California, he is dedicated to democratizing algorithmic trading through open-source technology.

Markus Infanger, SVP, RippleX

Markus Infanger is Senior Vice President of RippleX, overseeing Ripple’s contributions to the XRP Ledger (XRPL), a decentralized blockchain built for business applications. In his role, Markus looks after product developments, partnerships, and the growth of the developer ecosystem. Markus is also a Board Member for Futureverse, a leading AI and metaverse technology and content company. With more than two decades in leading roles at financial institutions, Markus is passionate about driving the integration of traditional finance with blockchain technology. Based in London, Markus holds an Executive MBA from the TRIUM program.

Adam Kagy, CEO, xrp.cafe
Adam is CEO of xrp.cafe, the leading NFT marketplace on the XRPL. Co-Founder of First Ledger trading bot and Co-Founder of Honeycluster, a blockchain based infra/data services business. An XRPL and blockchain enthusiast, he has been a professional software developer since 2006 and has been developing open source software for the blockchain space since 2017.

Artur Kirjakulov (PhD), CEO, XPMarket
Artur Kirjakulov, PhD, is the Co-Founder and CEO of XPMarket, a leading platform for DeFi and data analytics on the XRP Ledger. With a background as a life scientist in academia, Artur has transitioned his analytical skills to FinTech. Over the past seven years in the blockchain and crypto space, he has gained a deep understanding of the crypto market by closely following its trends and developments. Artur’s hands-on experience with DeFi tools and strategies not only drives innovation and growth at XPMarket but also contributes to the advancement and enrichment of the XRP Ledger ecosystem.

Jason Ma, Head of DeFi, Axelar

Jason Ma is the Head of DeFi at Axelar, whose mission is to create the most secure and seamless cross-chain communication platform for Web3. Jason believes next-gen interoperability solutions will break down silos between blockchain ecosystems and improve user experience to onboard the first billion users to Web3. Prior to Axelar, Jason led the Go-to-market Strategy & Operations team at Ripple. Jason holds an HBA from Ivey Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Green Process Engineering from Western University.

John McCoy, CEO, ProprHome
John McCoy is a serial founder, based in Portugal but originally from Ireland. With over fifteen years of experience building global real-estate companies, he is now developing a trust enabling marketplace, ProprHome, on XRPL.

Yana Novikova, Senior Director of Product, Ripple
Yana Novikova is a 15+ year technology industry veteran with a decade-long experience in the crypto space. In her current role, Yana leads product for Custody, Ripple’s enterprise-grade digital asset custody infrastructure, and RippleX, a business unit focused on open source contributions to XRP Ledger and developer experience. Prior to Ripple, she was a software engineer at JP Morgan Chase, developing their credit card infrastructure and applications.

Red Sheehan, Research Analyst at Messari
Red Sheehan is a distinguished crypto research analyst and developer with a focus on base-layer (L1s and L2s) architectures. His work at Messari involves in-depth analysis of blockchain technologies, contributing to the broader understanding and development of the crypto ecosystem.

These newly announced speakers join an already impressive lineup, promising to deliver an unforgettable experience at XRPL Apex 2024. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to reveal the full schedule of sessions, panels, and workshops.

Mark your calendars for June 11th to 13th at the Postillion Hotel & Convention Centre in Amsterdam. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this groundbreaking event, where the future of finance and blockchain technology unfolds.