Center for Research in Decentralized Finance and Digital Financial Assets
About the Center
The Center for Research in Decentralized Finance and Digital Financial Assets is a leading hub bringing together Russian and international intellectual expertise in blockchain, digital assets and fintech.
The Center's mission is to help companies and talented leaders find answers to the challenges and opportunities created by these technologies. The Center brings together financial market practitioners, researchers and executives, turning cutting-edge technological ideas into applicable business solutions.
Core functions and objectives of the Center:
- conducting leading research on blockchain, digital financial assets, tokenization and decentralized finance;
- equipping executives with the knowledge and skills to pursue a proactive strategy as fintech and blockchain evolve;
- offering solutions and best practices for applying blockchain and related advanced technologies;
- providing expert support for corporate initiatives and pilot projects — from assessing applicability to designing roadmaps.
The Center is an entrepreneurial competence hub that combines education, research and expert support around blockchain, digital financial assets and the Web3 transformation of business.
Two main tracks
Corporate and open enrollment programs
Programs for top management, functional heads, product teams, lawyers, risk managers and government representatives, covering blockchain, digital financial assets, payment infrastructure, tokenization, Web3 strategy and the transformation of business models.
Commissioned research and consulting
Market analysis, industry foresight studies, assessment of the applicability of blockchain solutions, roadmap design, and strategy sessions.
Director of the Center
Alexander Nam
Vice President for Digital Assets at MTS Fintech and a certified director of the Association of Independent Directors. An experienced executive and recognized fintech expert with distinctive international experience. A graduate of the Faculty of Economics of Gubkin University and of the Presidential Academy (RANEPA), he earned an MBA from the University of Manchester in 2014. He has worked at systemically important companies in the Russian and global financial markets — Sber, MOEX, SWIFT and Citi.
Projects launched under his leadership:
- Blockchain Academy — an educational project on blockchain, digital financial assets and digital currencies (CorpFinTech Association).
- DFA Platform — a blockchain platform for issuing and recording digital financial assets (Sber).
- Multibank — a single-window platform enabling corporations to work with all of their banks (National Settlement Depository, Moscow Exchange Group).
Public engagement
A regular speaker at key industry venues — SPIEF, CIPR, Finopolis, ACRA and Cbonds. Author of articles and commentary on digital assets, blockchain and the transformation of the financial industry in Forbes, RBC, Vedomosti, BeInCrypto, Cointelegraph and other outlets.
Contact for cooperation
Elena Makeeva
Email: emakeeva@hse.ru
Have you spotted a typo?
Highlight it, click Ctrl+Enter and send us a message. Thank you for your help!
To be used only for spelling or punctuation mistakes.