In at present’s episode I’m joined by Sigal Mandelker, Common Associate at Ribbit Capital, an funding agency targeted on monetary providers and expertise.
Sigal and I cowl a variety of subjects, together with:
Sigal’s Work within the Public Sector:
After receiving her regulation diploma from the College of Pennsylvania Carey Regulation College, Sigal went on to carry quite a lot of senior positions within the U.S. authorities, together with Deputy Assistant Common within the Felony Division. A lot of Sigal’s work centered round counter-terrorism nationwide safety. In December of 2016, she acquired a suggestion to function the Below Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Monetary Intelligence. As Below Secretary, she supervised 4 most important elements of the Treasury — OFAC, FinCEN, the Workplace of Intelligence and Evaluation, and the Workplace of Terrorist Financing and Monetary Crimes. Throughout her time within the public sector, Sigal noticed an unimaginable alternative for progress inside fintech, and in April of 2020, she joined Ribbit to assist bridge the hole between private and non-private partnerships.
Cryptocurrencies and Anti-Cash Laundering:
Throughout her time as Below Secretary, Sigal observed that incentives for monetary establishments to innovate in AML weren’t the place they need to be — banks spent a overwhelming majority of their time proving a damaging assertion. She labored to supply banks with the leeway to construct out AML programs extra effectively. Moreover, in direction of the top of her time working within the public sector, Cryptocurrencies had grow to be a significant speaking level. She targeted on serving to the expertise and its use circumstances develop whereas limiting its use for nefarious actions. Sigal additionally factors out that cryptocurrencies are way more clear than conventional monetary infrastructure as a result of (for probably the most half) the blockchain they depend on is clear and immutable.
“For those who discuss to prosecutors and also you gave them the selection of their prison circumstances of going after money-laundering that occurred both in money… versus money-laundering that occurred in crypto, universally they may say sure, please give me the crypto circumstances.”
Ribbit’s Funding in Chainalysis:
Sigal had some publicity to Chainalysis throughout her time within the public sector — she used a Chainalysis report back to establish totally different connections to a sanctioned digital pockets. Quick-forward to Sigal’s time at Ribbit, and Chainalysis was one of many first offers Sigal participated in. She at present works as an advisor to the corporate.
Over the previous few weeks, Chainalysis has created quite a lot of reviews on crypto flows into Ukraine. Ukraine raised $70M in cryptocurrencies in a number of weeks for humanitarian functions together with meals and provides. Sigal is a agency believer in the way forward for cryptocurrencies as an “enabler for humanitarian help”. Chainalysis’ reviews additionally discover that cryptocurrencies haven’t been used at a big scale for sanction evasion.
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Sigal Mandelker:
Sigal Mandelker joined Ribbit Capital as a Common Associate in April 2020. Ribbit is an funding agency targeted on monetary providers and expertise. Previous to Ribbit, she served as Below Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Monetary Intelligence. As Below Secretary, Sigal supervised 4 most important elements of Treasury (OFAC, FinCEN, the Workplace of Intelligence and Evaluation, and the Workplace of Terrorist Financing and Monetary Crimes). Earlier than serving as Below Secretary of Treasury, Sigal was a accomplice at Proskauer in New York. Sigal additionally beforehand served in quite a lot of senior positions within the U.S. authorities, together with as Deputy Assistant Legal professional Common within the Felony Division of the Justice Division, an AUSA within the Southern District of New York, Counselor to Secretary of Homeland Safety Michael Chertoff, and Counsel to the Deputy Legal professional Common. Sigal can also be an Advisor to Chainalysis, is on the Board of the Monetary Expertise Affiliation, serves on the advisory group to the Digital Greenback Challenge, and is Member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council.
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In regards to the Writer:
Anirudh Singh is a second-year MBA Candidate at The Wharton College, the place he’s a part of the Wharton FinTech Podcast group. He has a ardour for financial improvement, enterprise capital, monetary providers, and all issues FinTech. Don’t hesitate to achieve out with questions, feedback, suggestions, and alternatives at singhan@wharton.upenn.edu.
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