2019 Agenda
Chicago, IL, 8 - 9 May 2019
Schedule
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May 808:45
Conference pass
Opening Remarks
Keynotes
William Brodsky, Former Chair, Cboe Global Markets
May 808:50
Conference pass
Competitive Strategies – harnessing new technologies to stay viable/ahead
Keynotes
Robert Creamer, President And Chief Executive Officer, Geneva Trading
May 809:20
Conference pass
State of the Crypto Market – How will the rise of cryptocurrencies impact portfolios, electronic trading desks and capital markets at large?
Keynotes
- Institutionalization – what entities are beginning to accept/introduce cryptocurrencies as a legitimate form of currency?
- Regulatory Risks - what developments do risk-averse institutions need to see on the regulatory front to quell concerns about compliance?
- Product Integration – how will additional financial products like ETFs and crypto futures impact the market?
- Capital Inefficiencies – is there a better way to manage the necessary capital for bid requests across multiple exchanges?
- Rebuilding infrastructure – making exchanges more user-friendly for efficient trading
Moderator: Michael Moro, Chief Executive Officer, Genesis Global Trading
Steve Kurz, Head of Asset Management and Global Distribution, Galaxy Digital
Gabor Gurbacs, Director, Digital Assets Strategy, Vaneck
Ari Paul, Chief Information Officer, BlockTower Capital
May 811:30
Conference pass
Low Latency Components – Building the infrastructure for accelerated trading
Keynotes
- FPGA vs. ASIC: valuing low cost chips against faster speed processing
- Software Development: experimenting with coding to construct the fastest system
- Human Capital: tapping into other industries for the best coding talent
- Testing, development and integration – what tools and technology are necessary to build and test FPGA and ASIC applications?
Moderator: Mark Dawson, Lead Performance Engineer - R&D, Belvedere Trading
Alex Gerasev, Chief Technology Officer, Marquette Partners LP
Mike Madigan, Chief Technology Officer, WH Trading
Session led by: 
Session led by: 
May 813:20
Conference pass
Automation in the cloud – structuring off-site systems that maintain high speeds
Automated Trading & HPC
May 813:20
Conference pass
Latency Wars - You lost, now what?
Automated Trading & HPC
May 813:20
Conference pass
Speed on a budget – determining the right connectivity architecture based on costs
Automated Trading & HPC
May 813:20
Conference pass
Big data – how volume, variety, and velocity are impacting the way big data is managed?
Alternative Data & Quant
May 813:20
Conference pass
New Data Compliance – GDPR and future regulatory requirements
Alternative Data & Quant
May 813:20
Conference pass
Risk – optimizing models to protect investments and trades
Alternative Data & Quant
May 813:20
Conference pass
Back-Testing – from conceptualization to executing trades
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
May 813:20
Conference pass
Deep Neural Networks – how supervised do deep learning machines need to be?
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
May 813:20
Conference pass
Real-time analytics – using connectivity to better predict future market movements
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
May 813:20
Conference pass
Data Storage – the impact from blockchain technology
Blockchain
May 813:20
Conference pass
Infrastructure developments that will stem from decentralized ledgers
Blockchain
May 813:20
Conference pass
Payments in blockchain
Blockchain
May 813:20
Conference pass
Bitcoin Regulation – examining the landscape for all cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
May 813:20
Conference pass
Clearing cryptocurrency trades – at what speed will blockchain allow transactions?
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
May 813:20
Conference pass
Mining expenses – finding alternative methods to mine crypto at a lower cost
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
May 814:00
Conference pass
Connectivity: A Review of the Latest Developments
Automated Trading & HPC
Session led by: 
May 814:00
Conference pass
Determining the accepted level of risk to build out a strategic portfolio
Alternative Data & Quant
- Applying stress testing into existing enterprise infrastructure
- Adopting models that focus on product dynamics
- How to make stress testing a first line of defense
Euan Sinclair, Partner, Talton Capital Management
Maxwell Rhee, Senior Quantitative Researcher, Citadel
Brian Miller, Founder And Head Strategist, Optimized Trading LLC
Marat Molyboga, Chief Risk Officer, Efficient Capital Management LLC
May 814:00
Conference pass
AI and Machine Learning – how markets will move forward
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
- Building the system: managing the costs of infrastructure through greater technology investment
- Learning prospects: what opportunities are machine and deep learning systems providing financial markets
- Technology Crossroads: examining the intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain
- AI vs Quants: how is AI forcing traders to deviate from traditional quant techniques?
Andrej Rusakov, Partner, Data Capital Management
Alexander Fleiss, Chief Executive Officer, Rebellion Research
Jim Creighton, Chief Investment Officer, Creighton AI
May 814:00
Conference pass
Blockchain Applied – examining the practical use cases for decentralized ledgers
Blockchain
- Crypto tokens and Alt Coins: Are Bitcoin and Etherium becoming the global version of PayPal?
- Cloud Storage: how blockchain will change the way data is stored
- Privacy: which coins are untraceable?
Yubo Ruan, Founding Partner, 8 Decimal Capital
David Fauchier, CEO & CIO, Cambrial Capital
William Peets, CIO, Passport Capital
Matthew Kaye, Managing Partner, Blockhead Capital
May 814:00
Conference pass
Crypto trading infrastructure – architecting platforms for institutional crypto products
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
- Execution: what systems are in place to provide trade certainty?
- Cloud connection: will trades slow down if moved to off-site servers?
- Liquidity: how are exchanges keeping up with a rise in volume?
- Liquidity vs. Volatility: which matters more for institutional traders?
Cyrus Younessi, Director Of Research And Trading, Scalar Capital
Daniel Gunsberg, Co-Founder, Gordian Block Capital, LLC
Session led by: 
Session led by: 
Session led by: 
May 814:20
Conference pass
Exchange to exchange connectivity – why engineering, IP and old-fashioned R&D trump off-the-shelf solutions
Automated Trading & HPC
Session led by: 
May 814:40
Conference pass
The Future of low latency – what networks allow you to communicate at max speeds?
Automated Trading & HPC
- Undersea cables: extending fibre connectivity as the industry norm
- Microwave Connections: using radio frequency for one-hop connections
- Low Earth Orbit Satellites: how complex are they and what are the costs associated?
- Free Space Optics: will the use of lasers overcome the obstacles of weather disruption?
- Tower consolidation
Jerry Nelligan, Head Of Technology, XR Trading
Sean Mirsky, Chief Executive Officer, ZNES Group, LLC
May 814:40
Conference pass
Pyqstrat – An open source backtesting system for quant strategies
Alternative Data & Quant
Sal Abbasi, Co-Founder, Coatbridge Capital
May 814:40
Conference pass
GTAA implementation – using A.I. in assessing the global landscape
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
Calvin Yu, Managing Director - Head Of Multi-Asset Solutions, qplum
May 814:40
Conference pass
Blockchain’s Mass Adoption – What will it take?
Blockchain
Aaron Winkler, Founder, Hamilton Digital Assets
May 814:40
Conference pass
Crypto Custodians – how is the way digital assets are stored impacting the way cryptocurrencies are traded?
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
- Cybersecurity: using cold storage and protocols to safely hold cryptocurrencies
- Digital Wallets: developing secure keys for on and offline wallets
- Balance of power: should exchanges be allowed to act as custodians and brokers?
- Number of Custodians: are digital assets safer with a lesser amount of large institutions holding AUM?
Moderator: John Rapa, Managing Partner/ Chief Executive Officer, Tellefsen and Company
Dan Patterson, Managing Partner, Polynexus Capital
Colleen Sullivan, Partner In Cmt Digital Holdings Llc, CMT Capital Markets Trading
Session led by: 
May 815:00
Conference pass
Extracting Value – analyzing alternative datasets through technology and human capital
Alternative Data & Quant
- Datasources: sifting through the streams of data to achieve peak performance
- Training the model: using algorithms to understand the context of financial conversation
- Building the system: which hardware and software systems are necessary for storing and running data analysis at the lowest latencies?
Moderator: Chuck Mackie, Principal, Fathom Communication
Joel Bloch, Founding Partner & CRO, Trinnacle Capital Management
Chad Gray, Portfolio Manager, Convergence Investment Management, LLC
David Rukshin, Chief Technology Officer, WorldQuant
May 815:00
Conference pass
Predictive Intelligence – overcoming the barriers to AI adoption in capital markets
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
Session led by: 
May 815:00
Conference pass
Scalability – how to improve blockchain’s capacity for a growing market?
Blockchain
- Consumer adoption: how will systems respond as more customers join a chain?
- Faster consensus: how can nodes communicate at greater speeds to approve transactions?
- Subchains: can splitting up larger blockchains improve responsiveness?
- Off-chain: conducting transactions offline to avoid overwhelming blockchain servers
Moderator: James Todaro, Managing Partner, Blocktown Capital
Eric Ervin, President, Chief Executive Officer, Blockforce Capital
Samuel Cassatt, Chief Strategy Officer, ConsenSys
Timothy Lewis, Co-Founder, Ikigai Asset Management
May 815:20
Conference pass
Re-thinking IT for high performance trading – compute, data management, storage and networking
Automated Trading & HPC
- Warehousing & integration: best practices for building an enterprise data warehouse and unifying data management across different IT teams and departments
- Design and engineering developments: how are new technologies driving trading firms from proprietary software and hardware to open source, automated, software-defined models?
- Hyperconverged vs. converged vs. traditional infrastructure: assessing the benefits of combining compute, storage and networking into a single, software-driven appliance
- Outsourcing your data center: sourcing, integrating and managing third-party DCaaS (data center as-a-service), IaaS (infrastructure as-a-service), PaaS (platform as-a-service) solutions
- Containerization vs. virtualization: how can you leverage container technology to increase operational efficiency, boost scalability, facilitate application development and lower costs?
- Storage: deploying cloud servers and software-defined data centers to maximize storage efficiency and scalability; maintaining storage requirements to accommodate new data sources
- Cybersecurity: assessing the importance of data management in security analytics
Brandon Richardson, Partner, Emergent Trading
Sal Abbasi, Co-Founder, Coatbridge Capital
May 815:20
Conference pass
Designing AI
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
- Bridging the gap: improving the communication between product specialists and algorithm programmers
- Supervised vs. Unsupervised: analyzing machine learning and the various ways it is contributing to generating alpha
- Data visualization: seeing financial metrics to achieve informed trade decisions
Michael Mescher, Founder, Gammon Capital LLC
Adrian Bialonczyk, Managing Director, Co-Founder, Algo Depth Capital
Ugur Arslan, CEO & CIO, Lidya Trading LLC
Luca Lin, Partner, Domeyard LLC
May 815:20
Conference pass
Capitalizing on the inefficiencies in the cryptocurrency markets
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
- Identifying the spread: locating arbitrage opportunities between exchanges to maximize bid-ask spreads
- Reading the chain: what will each coin’s blockchain tell you about its price?
- Government intervention: what ways can governing bodies impact market efficiencies?
- Proliferation: how will the continued entry of additional cryptocurrencies be reflected in the markets?
- Determining the metrics: what statistical indicators provide better insight into the health of a cryptocurrency
Christopher Hehmeyer, Chief Executive Officer, Hehmeyer Trading + Investments
Matt Shapiro, Principal, Multicoin Capital
Charles Hwang, Managing Partner, Lightning Capital
Toby Allen, Head Of Digital Assets, Akuna Capital
May 815:40
Conference pass
Non-correlation and the search for yield
Blockchain
Timothy Enneking, Managing Director, Digital Capital Management, LP
May 816:20
Conference pass
Investments for tomorrow – analysis of future technologies and the product development that will stem from them
Keynotes
Henry Liu, Chief Investment Officer, Yeoman's Capital
David Siemer, CEO, Wave Group
Peter Johnson, Principal, Jump Capital
Victor Pascucci, Managing Partner, Lightbank
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May 909:00
Conference pass
Blockchain and the financial market – is the revolution coming or is it just hype?
Keynotes
- Payments – lowering the cost of carrying out transactions
- Data Infrastructure – using additional nodes for storage and quick access
- M&A Transactions – greater transparency helping to facilitate takeovers
- Lending – using blockchain assets as loan collateral
David Johnston, Founder & Managing Director, Yeoman's Capital
May 909:20
Conference pass
AI Trading Strategies – How much should we rely on robo-advisors and algorithms to make trades?
Keynotes
- Discovering the Risks – what should trading companies be most cautious of when it comes to AI?
- Machine Learning – training the computer to spot the trends
- Deep Learning – allowing the computer to discover what cannot be seen ourselves
- Swarm Intelligence – getting machine learning computers to communicate with each other for better market comprehension
Moderator: David Nuelle, Managing Director, Hehmeyer Trading + Investments
Howard Getson, Chief Executive Officer, Capitalogix Trading
May 911:00
Conference pass
Maximizing your profitability in a market with reduced inefficiencies
Automated Trading & HPC
- Niche Strategies: How are prop trading companies staying afloat with reduced bid-ask spreads?
- Trading ‘speed bumps’: how are firms keeping speed given exchanges deploying intentional transaction delays?
- New ways to contain costs
Mehmet Yanilmaz, Partner, Navus, Inc.
Alan Burke, Principal, Condor Trading, LLC
David Klusendorf, Chief Investment Officer, Typhon Capital Management
May 911:00
Conference pass
Data access architecture – how the way you connect with your data impacts trading strategy
Alternative Data & Quant
- Data storage: keeping all needed information for algorithmic decision-making
- Speed of data: designing an infrastructure that allows for fast data analytics
- Fast algorithms: how AI system speeds will enhance trade returns
Ernest Chan, Principal, QTS Capital Management
May 911:00
Conference pass
TCA and AI analytics – how can AI be utilized for better trade execution?
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
- Trading Strategy: confirming and developing algorithms that align with a firm’s preferred method of execution
- System Integration: tying in datasets, 3rd party information, and analytical tools for alpha generation
- Real-Time analytics: connecting to the most up-to-date trading costs for more informed decision making
- Post-Trade analytics: factoring in variable’s like daily volume and volatility to optimize trading strategies
- Vendor Relationships: the build vs. buy puzzle and working with your provider to improve performance, capacity, and cost efficiency
May 911:00
Conference pass
Tokenizing assets: how will blockchain change the meaning of liquidity?
Blockchain
- Securities: a new landscape for traditional stock trading
- Real Estate: changes to investing via blockchain REITs
- Real assets: using blockchain to purchase commodities, art, diamonds, and other alternative assets
- Exchanges: how blockchain and tokenization will lead to AI-only exchanges
Moderator: Nancy Fechnay, CEO, BedrockX
Jeff Dorman, Co-Founder and Head PM, A.R.C.A.
Timothy Enneking, Managing Director, Digital Capital Management, LP
Andrew Keys, ConsenSys Capital Co-Founder, ConsenSys
May 911:00
Conference pass
International Crypto Centers – why crypto funds and offshore jurisdictions are a match made in heaven?
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
- Which countries are setting up preferable environments for the crypto industry?
- Relocation: how are already existing companies in the crypto space moving out of their countries of origin?
- Tax Impact: how do these nations impact tax revenue for you and your clients?
- Competitive Advantage: how are crypto funds benefiting from placement in offshore jurisdictions?
Lawrence Newhook, Founder And Chief Executive Officer, Laureate Digital Securities
David Drake, Founder And Chairman, LDJ Capital
May 911:40
Conference pass
Growing Marketplace – how are increased number of players impacting the market?
Automated Trading & HPC
- Exchange communication: updating the microstructure between exchanges, traders and regional data centers
- Barriers to entry: is it becoming more or less difficult to enter the trading market?
- Forward thinking strategy: adapting your trading strategy for foreseen increases in market entrants
Andrew Strasman, Principal, Totem Asset Group
May 911:40
Conference pass
Sources of the future - where might alternative data come from next?
Alternative Data & Quant
- GPS: will the build out of IoT link GPS coordinates of ships for more reliable intel?
- A.I.: how will next generation A.I. and machine learning predict data before it is even created?
- How will growing usage of cryptocurrencies impact alternative datasets?
May 911:40
Conference pass
Utilizing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to generate a more diversified portfolio
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
- Land of Opportunity: tapping into the Silicon Valley region to build more complex AI systems
- Learning for a Purpose: realizing the true fundamental effects of machine learning to best correlate data and returns
- Who’s moving markets: understanding the true players and their impact on prices to construct a more useful AI system
Che Guan, Vice President, N.C.I.
May 911:40
Conference pass
Decoding the chain – what’s being developed for the future of trade execution?
Blockchain
- Open Source vs. Proprietary software
- Smart contracts: going beyond MAST to make smarter contracts
- Sidechains: extending the use of blockchain systems to better work with one another
- Leading Languages: which coding languages will be used for future blockchain growth
- Privacy: using schnoor signatures to help provide discretion among crypto transactions
Bob Mcelrath, Blockchain Architect, Fidelity Digital Assets
Shiliang Tang, Chief Investment Officer, LedgerPrime
May 911:40
Conference pass
Trading Crypto Beyond 2019 – how will cryptocurrencies be traded in the future?
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
- High Frequency Trading: developing the systems necessary to trade on a relatively high-latency infrastructure
- Options: preparing for the buildout of derivatives that allow for less risk
- ETFs: will the SEC allow for an explosion of crypto exchange traded funds?
- Security Tokens: which tokens will be tied to tangible assets and how will that impact the market overall?
- Privacy: how will future tokens avoid being tracked through chain analysis?
Mike Ossowski, Crypto Market Making and Trading Strategy, Hehmeyer Trading + Investments
Travis Kling, Founder And Chief Investment Officer, Ikigai Asset Management
Chris Matta, Co-Founder, Crescent Crypto
Session led by: merkle-data
Session led by: 
May 913:30
Conference pass
Asset Manager solutions - staying relevant in the face of coded solutions
Automated Trading & HPC
May 913:30
Conference pass
Low Latency – examining the newest technologies for faster trading
Automated Trading & HPC
May 913:30
Conference pass
Robo-advisors - suggesting portfolio changes based on machine learning
Automated Trading & HPC
May 913:30
Conference pass
Cleaning Data – using tools like Python and Tableau to eliminate noise
Alternative Data & Quant
May 913:30
Conference pass
Risk Analytics – accounting for potential losses in model development
Alternative Data & Quant
May 913:30
Conference pass
Using models – how to implement alpha once it is calculated?
Alternative Data & Quant
May 913:30
Conference pass
A.I. - responding to black swan events
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
May 913:30
Conference pass
Back-testing – determining the number of years that are best to examine
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
May 913:30
Conference pass
Data architecture – balancing storage needs with accessibility needs
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
May 913:30
Conference pass
Payments – how are businesses beginning to accept accounts receivable via blockchain?
Blockchain
May 913:30
Conference pass
Security – wallet protections for the institutional investor
Blockchain
May 913:30
Conference pass
The Value of Blockchain – Why this technology is here to stay
Blockchain
May 913:30
Conference pass
Crypto Infrastructure – overcoming technical challenges
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
May 913:30
Conference pass
STO’s – taking advantage of the credible opportunities, avoiding the noise and knowing the difference
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
May 913:30
Conference pass
Tokenizing Securities – using blockchain to trade less liquid assets
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
May 914:10
Conference pass
Trader faster and smarter – analysing ULL routes between Chicago and New York
Automated Trading & HPC
Session led by: 
May 914:10
Conference pass
Nowcasting Recessions using the SVM Machine Learning Algorithm
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
Xiao Qiao, Co-Head of Research, Paraconic Technologies
May 914:10
Conference pass
Know your exchanger/coin issuer
Blockchain
- Case studies: BTC-e, Bitconnect, BitPetite: Red Flags
Katherine May, Assistant Vice President, Senior Manager - AML Business Intelligence, BMO Financial Group
May 914:10
Conference pass
Volume in Crypto – evaluating the fluctuations in volatility and capital in the space
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
- Crypto derivatives: finding additional trading strategies when low volatility prevents max profit out of exchange arbitrage
- Fluidity: raising additional capital to make the market more liquid
- STO’s: navigating the landscape of new token offerings and separating the legitimate from the illegitimate
Brian Sewell, Founder, Rockwell Capital
Bert Mouler, President And Chief Executive Officer, Profluent Group
Satya Bajpai, Tech MAndA And Head Of Blockchain And Digital Assets, Jmp Group Inc.
Morgan Hill, Founder, AxionV
May 914:30
Conference pass
High-Performance infrastructure strategy – how are you aligning HPC hardware & software to optimize performance?
Automated Trading & HPC
- To invest or not to invest: what types of latency problems are best addressed through hardware implementation vs. a software-based approach?
- Deep learning chipsets: are specialized chipsets the future platform for implementing deep learning algorithms?
- Mission-critical servers & AI infrastructure for data-intensive workloads: how are new breeds of enterprise servers ushering in the next generation of accelerated computing?
- HPC software implementation: what are the key software challenges of developing and deploying increasingly complex HPC, big data, machine learning and visualization workloads?
- Open source big data frameworks: integrating Hadoop, Spark and other big data technologies into your trading operation
- Big data productivity tools & software utilities: compilers, debuggers, performance analysis and visualization tools
Vincent Greff, Head Software Engineering, XR Trading
May 914:30
Conference pass
Model Management – leveraging research for optimal trade strategy
Alternative Data & Quant
- Good Quants vs. Bad Quants: how to avoid overfitting?
- Process vs. Results: which carries more weight?
- Alpha shifts: how to evolve when your model starts underperforming?
- Future of alpha generation: how will research advance in 2019?
George Mylnikov, Head Of Quantitative Research, Windhaven Investment Management
Olga Kokareva, Data Sourcing And Strategy, Quantstellation
Robert Gouley, Senior Analyst, Trading, OMERS Capital Markets
May 914:30
Conference pass
Evaluating Risk – algorithms that measure exposure across asset classes
A.I. & Advanced Analytics
- Machine Learning: re-writing models for predictive outlook on risk
- Modernization of data management: incorporating new technologies and open source software for smarter betas
- Predictive analytics: using algorithmic tools to measure future risk
- Alternative Data: using abstract information as additional risk assessment
Dongsheng Lu, Head of Quantitative Research, Derivatives Trading, BNY Mellon
May 914:30
Conference pass
Storing data on the blockchain
Blockchain
- Share-ability: data access to all nodes of a chain
- Decentralized clouds: using host computers to rent out hard drive space
- Using protocols: how systems like Coda use compression for lengthening storage space of a blockchain
Mohammed Tayeb, Director, Medicalchain
May 914:50
Conference pass
Empirical Statistics of Cryptocurrency Returns
Cryptocurrency & Exchange Technology
Brian Boonstra, Head Of Quantitative Research, Cognitive Capital
May 915:10
Conference pass
A.I. in Blockchain – how machine learning and other algorithms will impact larger scale applications of distributed ledgers
Keynotes
- Learning from the ledger – keeping data on the blockchain for better visualization and improve decision making
- Trade records – looking back in the blockchain to understand trading patterns and trends
- Risk Management and Safeguards – how is blockchain facilitating in minimizing losses?
Moderator: Agnes Budzyn, Managing Director of Global Growth, ConsenSys
Eric Ervin, President, Chief Executive Officer, Blockforce Capital
Rumi Morales, Partner, Outlier Ventures
Lou Kerner, Founding Partner, CryptoOracle
last published: 13/Feb/19 16:06 GMT
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