Interviews
Alon Goren, Founding Partner of Draper Goren Holm – Interview Series
Alon Goren is a Founding Partner at Draper Goren Holm, a blockchain venture studio and fund created by Tim Draper, Alon Goren, and Josef Holm with a focus on incubating and accelerating the best early-stage startups from around the world.
Josef and Alon are the same team that has built some of the top blockchain conferences such as LA Blockchain Summit, Global DeFi Summit, and the upcoming Security Token Summit.
In 2018, you Co-Founded Ownera the first institutional-grade global network for digital securities. What initially excited you about digital securities?
The securities market, and banking in general, is a very inefficient and outdated marketplace that has yet to fully embrace the opportunities that internet technology affords us. For most of my career I’ve wanted to bring these markets online and one of the key missing pieces was trust. The banking industry is driven by relationships and there is nothing more valuable to a banker than their rolodex. This single fact has not only encouraged, but incentivised the offline, inefficient private deals and markets to continue. The blockchain fixes this by providing full transparency and privacy when necessary to all participating parties, encouraging cooperation and deal-sharing in a way that was never yet possible.
That, on top of creating a more efficient, global and fair marketplace where everyone can participate more freely makes this the greatest opportunity of our time.
Could you share some details regarding the Ownera issuance platform?
Although I am on the board of Ownera and one of the founders, Ami Ben David, the CEO leads the day to day. That said, Ownera’s presentation at Security Token Summit will be one to remember. :-)
We’ve seen various products that have been tokenized including art, venture funds, and real estate. What do you personally view as the best match for security tokens?
I think all of these products / markets will soon be digitized and on the blockchain in a much larger scale but in the short-term, I think Real Estate and the larger cap secondaries of “unicorn” tech companies will lead the charge. The reason I think so, is because these types of products are highly sought after and that there is already a potential liquid market for all of these assets. The rest will need some time to develop proper marketplaces and communities.
You’ve helped launch and organize multiple conferences in the past. Could you tell us more about the upcoming Security Token Summit and why investors should pay attention?
Security Token Summit is always a very exciting event because of the more institutional focus on creating more efficient private markets. The most prominent tech and financial pioneers in the space, as well as representatives from some of the largest banking institutions and government agencies will be participating. With institutional adoption of crypto skyrocketing, it only makes sense that they begin to utilize this technology to amplify their core businesses. I expect a lot of exciting conversations, revelations, and opportunities around this topic to be discussed throughout the day.
You are clearly bullish about the future of digital securities, where do you see the marketplace in five years?
Absolutely! In five years, I expect to see a more open and robust global marketplace. It makes no sense for a product to be married to one blockchain, exchange or bank because of a decision made when launching. Many new exchanges, banks and blockchains will be competing for deals, as well as existing institutions jumping into the ring, but those products will have life outside of their current silos. The end consumer / investor will have more access to opportunities and be able to transact more freely. Liquidity will flow more freely like it does in decentralized finance while regulations are enforced and hidden where they belong, behind the scenes. Technology exists today to make this a reality. Financial institutions and techies will come together to streamline inefficient securities laws and processes regardless of if the regulators wake up and catch up.
Is there anything else that you would like to share about digital securities or the Security Token Summit?
Not talking any other asset class, the global alternatives space is currently an over $10 Trillion Dollar market. This market, and many more will be digitized and on a blockchain soon. This hasn’t even begun. A few of us may have been dealing with this for a few years now and creating a foundation, but everything today will look like a proof of concept or experiment compared to the avalanche that is coming. Come learn. Get on board. Participate. If you are in finance, this is your future.
Thank you for the great interview. Readers who wish to learn more should visit Draper Goren Holm, or to learn more about the disruptive future of digital securities they should attend the Security Token Summit.
The Security Token summit will stream live on Securities.io:
