Christian Catalini — Founder
Christian Catalini is a tech founder with roots in academia. He obsesses over the moment before the rules are written—the messy, pre-consensus phase—from crypto to AI. He’s usually early—founder of the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab—and he takes big swings—from seeding a generation of MIT builders with Bitcoin in 2014 to co-creating Libra. After co-founding Lightspark, he’s reset for one last meaningful swing before AGI does the rest. He holds a PhD from the University of Toronto (Rotman School of Management), and MSc (summa cum laude) in Economics and Management of New Technologies from Bocconi University, Milan. Christian’s research has been featured in Nature, Science, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, WIRED, NPR, Forbes, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, VICE news and the Washington Post among others. Christian has presented his work at a variety of institutions including Harvard University, MIT, Yale University, London Business School, New York University, UC Berkeley, Stanford University, the Federal Reserve Bank, the US Treasury, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the World Bank, the IMF, the White House OSTP, and a number of central banks and regulators.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a Fintech and AI expert with a strong academic background.
Experience: 20 yrs 3 mos
Skills
- Strategy
- Finance
Career Highlights
- Founder of the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab.
- Co-created Libra and contributed to Bitcoin adoption.
- Head Economist at Meta with a focus on fintech.
Work Experience
Skyfire
Advisor (6 mos)
Polarity
Advisor (1 yr 10 mos)
Hivemind
Independent Board Member (2 yrs 6 mos)
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Technology Advisory Committee Member (2 yrs)
Lightspark
Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer (3 yrs 10 mos)
Coinbase
Advisory Board, Coinbase Institute (3 yrs 10 mos)
Chainlink Labs
Advisor (3 yrs 5 mos)
Bank of England
Member, CBDC Engagement Forum (2 yrs)
MIT Sloan School of Management
Founder, MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab, and Research Scientist (4 yrs 8 mos)
Associate Professor (3 yrs 5 mos)
Diem Association
Chief Economist (1 yr 11 mos)
Co-Creator (3 yrs 10 mos)
Creative Destruction Lab
Associate (7 yrs 7 mos)
Strategic Advisory Board Member (5 yrs 1 mo)
Associate Director (1 yr 2 mos)
Meta
Head Economist for Meta Fintech (3 yrs 10 mos)
National Bureau of Economic Research
Faculty Research Fellow (5 yrs 6 mos)
MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab
Founder (8 yrs 6 mos)
Algorand
Economic Advisor (8 yrs 3 mos)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Theodore T. Miller Professor (4 yrs 1 mo)
MIT Sloan School of Management
Fred Kayne (1960) Career Development Professor of Entrepreneurship (2 yrs 9 mos)
Assistant Professor (4 yrs 8 mos)
Delphia
Advisor (10 yrs 11 mos)
The Next 36
Faculty (4 yrs 10 mos)
Tech Advisor (2 yrs 8 mos)
Brainmaven Corp.
Chief Scientist (1 yr)
Rotman School of Management
PhD Candidate, Strategic Management (5 yrs 10 mos)
Bocconi University
Research Scientist (1 yr 7 mos)
Education
PhD at University of Toronto - Rotman School of Management
MSc at Università Bocconi
MSc (Exchange Year) at Stockholm School of Economics
Bachelor at Università Bocconi