Aug 7, 2018
Juan Hernandez, CEO & Founder of OpenFinance Network (OFN), a leading trading platform for the $7.7 trillion alternative asset market, joins Ben and Jay to talk about the state of the digital asset ecosystem and OFN's collaboration with market leaders such as Securitize, Harbor, Polymath, TokenSoft, Republic and StartEngine, to bring more compliance and regulatory oversight to the issuance pipeline.
Juan touches on Morgan Creek's recent investment in OFN, and what it's like to be at the forefront of improving digital securities to bring more listings and liquidity to the market. He provides an overview of the "alphabet soup" of regulation, touching on the various applications of Reg S and Reg D, as well as the newer Reg A+ and Reg CF offerings.
We speak about the OFN team's efforts to juggle the dream and expectations for advancing products that allow for digital ownership, while managing an active Telegram channel and focusing on what truly matters -- ensuring compliance and building functional, feature-rich products that bring new standards and core value to the market.
Juan brings up Northern Trust, a 189-year old financial services company, that recently announced they will enter the digital asset space, to pilot, test and prove out the model. This leads into Ben bringing up the challenge of custody, and what it will take to bring the ICO utility token investor -- currently sitting on the sidelines -- into the security token asset space. Juan discusses OFN's unique approach to "distributed custody."
We wrap with a discussion about why it's important to shift the focus from creating marketing "juice" to a builder's mentality, and the challenges of balancing work and family with building blockchain products in the fast-pace, 24/7, global cryptocurrency and digital asset space.