WASHINGTON, July 18, 2019 (Newswire.com) - Omer Ozden, Chairman of RockTree LEX, who was legal counsel to Facebook dating back to 2006, was at the monumental, multi-day Congressional Hearings in Washington, D.C. with other high-profile CEOs of leading Blockchain companies, top Blockchain lawyers and government officials to shape the future laws and policy of Libra, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency in the United States.
RockTree LEX sees Libra and the Congressional Hearings as another major milestone in Blockchain and the financial industry’s rapid evolution into “Wall Street 2.0.” Increased regulatory attention and the fast-growing participation of large financial institutions in the space have upgraded the Blockchain industry with the entrance of Fortune 100 technology companies and global bulge bracket investment banks. Ozden attended Congressional Hearings with Facebook, across open-door and closed-door private sessions with both Democratic and Republican leaders of the U.S. government. These included deep discussions with the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, Co-Chaired by Tom Emmer (Rep), Bill Foster (Dem), Darren Soto (Dem), and David Schweikert (Rep), members of the House Financial Services Committee who led testimony questioning of Facebook’s David Marcus, and closed-door sessions with leading Congressional and Senate members.
“U.S. securities laws created in the 1930s, as regulated by the SEC, are inadequate for regulating cryptocurrencies. The rules surrounding commodities under the CFTC are more suitable, and we should look to other governments that have adopted similar commodities-based regulations for cryptocurrencies, such as those in Japan, Switzerland and Singapore,” stated Ozden to Congressional members.
“Major disruptive technology advances are inevitable. We have done this so many times in human history; it is how they are managed and embraced that sets one economy’s growth trajectory over another’s. What made America great is the “Do No Harm” approach Congress took towards the Internet in the 1990s. This allowed American Internet companies and technology to grow and, eventually, dominate much of the globe. We need to do the same for Blockchain.”
Ambiguity in the U.S. by the SEC up to now has meant many U.S. innovators and large amounts of investment capital leaving the U.S. and choosing to be domiciled in more friendly jurisdictional environments, such as Facebook’s move to Switzerland. Ozden advised Congress “that if the U.S. government falls behind by just two or three years, it is like losing 10 to 15 years in a traditional industry, and the U.S. will be out of the race.”
Ozden told Congressional and Senate leaders that the “top cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency mining companies and technology companies in Blockchain were predominantly in the United States five years ago. Yet today, the top exchanges and miners are all in Asia or Europe. An example given by Ozden was that of Huobi, which is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in China. “Huobi has worked closely with China’s regulators and has opened large technology teams in a crypto-friendly technology zone in the South of China. The United States should support companies like Huobi and Facebook that take the approach of ‘working with government’ instead of ‘running away from government,‘” stated Ozden.
“The future of Blockchain,” added Ozden at meetings with Congress, is “Wall Street 2.0. It means more regulation. It means more licenses. It means widespread institutional adoption. And it means rapidly increasing liquidity flows and substantial economic growth for those who capture it.”
If Facebook, with its 2.7 billion global users does not dominate the cryptocurrency payments world, then there is always Telegram from Russia, with its 250 million global users, or WeChat from China, with its 1.3 billion global users, plus many more large-scale companies around the world. It is just innovation, and it is inevitable. And it is only a question of where it will occur first on a large scale.
Original Source: Global Blockchain Legal Platform 'RockTree LEX' Fights for the Future of Financial Innovation at Congress
London, May 16, 2019 (Newswire.com) - Crosslake Technologies’ Managing Director, Hazem Abolrous, will reinforce the importance of utilizing strategic nearshore options for portfolio companies at Private Equity International’s Operating Partners Forum: Europe, May 21-22 in London.
“I’m extremely excited to be speaking about this dynamic topic focused on driving value creation at Europe’s leading event focused on Private Equity. We work with Private Equity leadership globally to maximize opportunities and look forward to sharing our steps to success with other operating partners.” - Hazem Abolrous, Managing Director at Crosslake Technologies.
The strategic and operational challenges faced by software businesses today have been intensified by rapid technological advances, sharp competition, and global economics. Hazem has been invited to leverage his 23 years of driving growth through innovation and value creation, including 18 years at Microsoft. Hazem is a thought leader and strategist focused on Private Equity software, programs, and products. Through close collaboration, Hazem's leads Crosslake’s European team who implements holistic approaches and to identify technical risks, opportunities for growth, existing strengths to maximize, and potential areas for cost reductions or additional investment.
“We help our clients effectively tackle strategic and operational challenges, whether in architecture, processes, and tools, or within the organization. I look forward to outlining successful case studies, including an action item checklist to ensure your activities are driving value creation.” - Hazem Abolrous, Managing Director at Crosslake Technologies.
To register for Hazem’s presentation and network with peers from other leading PE firms at Operation Partners Forum: Europe, please visit the conference website here.
About Crosslake:
Founded in 2008, Crosslake helps Private Equity firms drive and realize value creation through software. From strategic vision to planning and architecture, development, and execution, Crosslake works to transform and optimize software delivery. In addition to functional skills in software development, Crosslake’s team of senior software professionals provides end-to-end support with expertise in management consulting and advisory services to provide both strategic and tactical insight. Crosslake is headquartered in Seattle, Washington (USA) and Tallinn, Estonia (EMEA). For additional information, please visit www.crosslaketech.com
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Original Source: Crosslake's Hazem Abolrous to Speak at Operating Partners Forum, Europe's Premier Private Equity Conference
