Davos 2023: Hedera Exec Spent Years on Capitol Hill, Now She Shapes Blockchain Policy

The World Economic Forum (WEF), which recently took place in Davos, Switzerland, featured some notable participants, including Ursula von der Leyenthe President of the European Commission; Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine; actor Idris Elba and many others.

Benzinga attended and interviewed Nilmini Rubinchief of staff and policy manager at decentralized ledger innovator Hedera HBAR/USD.

Before Hedera, Rubin started in finance at the Federal Reserve and worked in the Treasury where she focused on international banking and the securities markets. She continued to work at President George W. Bush‘s White House and spent more than a decade on Capitol Hill helping to write legislation on energy and technology, as well as international development and corruption

Read on for our interview. Please note that the text below has been lightly edited for clarity and conciseness.

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BZ: When did you switch to crypto?

Rub in: I spent some time at the Information Technology Industry Council, a large trade association, and joined Meta Platforms Inc META. Later, I wanted to work with something big and transformative like the internet in the 1990s. That’s when I started going to big crypto and blockchain events, which lead me to Hedera where I am today.

What made you think crypto is the next big thing?

In the 1980s, I thought of computers and the Internet as glorifying clerical work. But it all ended up transforming our economy. Blockchain is the next big thing. It is a way of bringing ownership back to groups of people, and this touches on my interest in economic development.

This is an opportunity to let people own their data and have more control, as well as additional transparency. For example, when I was dealing with corruption, the best way to stop it was through transparency. I feel that the blockchain space has many answers to today’s big problems.

What does your role at Hedera entail?

I work for the board. We are responsible for the management of the Hedera chain. I am the Chief of Staff and Head of Global Policy who help run the organization and ensure we are effective. I also ensure that we are focused on helping to shape and improve policy. What excites me is that Hedera is an ecosystem, and together with our partners we work to create sustainability.

What are some of the concerns or challenges you focus on?

Politicians are not aware of the details of the technologies. Consequently, it can be very easy for them to inadvertently damage this sector with over-regulation. So it’s an opportunity for us to educate and clarify because the policy will guide how we structure organizations in the blockchain space and that will definitely impact growth.

We want to remove misinterpretation. When we had the Madoff situation during the financial crisis, that didn’t mean the entire financial sector needed to be crushed. We have to make sure that the differentiations are made and we remove the really bad actors.

What does education mean to you?

We have to meet people where they are. So part of that is putting out policy notes and explaining what we do in language that people who don’t spend all day on blockchain understand. For example, we have blogs coming out on such topics, including bringing Earth’s balance to the blockchain, and why it matters for the climate.

Publishing materials that people want to understand, and then making sure they get it, is our focus. We also engage in outreach to decision makers and one-on-one meetings to answer their specific questions. In addition, we often work with associations such as the Global Business Blockchain Council (GBBC), Blockchain Association in the USA and EUCI in Europe. We work with associations because when they do education, they do so on behalf of the whole sector.

Can you talk about some examples you can share with politicians?

We are talking about verifying data on the blockchain to eliminate greenwashing. This is to ensure that offsets are handled in a transparent manner, and that we have quality projects that improve the climate.

Here in Davos, we have members of the Hedera Global Governing Council talking about some of their solutions. For example, Avery Dennison Corporation AVY has a solution to track and trace supply chains. Consumers are interested in where their products come from and how they are made. With Avery Dennison’s tracking application, we can do that.

In addition, we have financial institutions such as Abrdn PLC SLFPY and Standard Bank Group SGBLY who want to tokenize assets, as well ServiceNow Inc NOWa large software company, enabling customers to play on the blockchain with the low-code technology they built.

What makes Hedera superior?

Hedera is more efficient, sustainable and carbon negative. We are attractive to companies that care about the environment and climate change. Although we are fast, we operate at a lower cost and with lower volatility. I think one of the things that was most attractive to me, and the difference with Hedera, is that we are run by a council of established companies. We have companies such as Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGLE and Boeing Co B.A involved.

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