In this episode, Jonathan Rufrano joins the Cryptocurrencyteens Podcast to discuss his role as the Program Manager at Stanford Future of Digital Currency Initiative and his work as a Web3 Advisor at the United Nations. This interview explores topics like the correlation between cryptocurrency and public policy, how Cryptocurrency can be used to increase financial inclusion, and the importance of financial regulation. Jonathan shares his inspiration behind reviewing and advising on Crypto research through lenses of financial inclusion, interoperability, scalability, and security of technical systems being developed and their relation to existing financial regulations. He elaborates on his work crafting regulatory standards for Central Bank Digital Currencies related to monetary policy, payments, securities, capital markets, and integration within financial systems. Finally, he explains insightful findings of his research into Crypto.

Jonathan was introduced to Bitcoin and blockchain in college while studying international relations, the geopolitical impact of emerging technologies, and the growing geopolitical power of the tech giants developing businesses around new technology. He first read the Bitcoin white paper in 2012 and was fascinated by bitcoin for its ability to impact and reshape geopolitics just like Facebook, Microsoft and Apple were doing in the early 2010s–as well as blockchain's ability to create databases and communication networks that couldn't easily be censored by any of the increasingly authoritarian governments around the world. He started his career in grassroots activism and advocacy before pivoting into public policy. Now he’s all in on web3, and has been in crypto professionally since early 2019.

Learn more:

Jonathan Rufrano: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-rufrano

Abigail Li (host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/cryptocurrencyteens

About Cryptocurrencyteens: https://www.cryptocurrencyteens.com/

#38 Interview with Jonathan Rufrano — Program Manager at Stanford Future of Digital Currency Initiative