“When given the choice, most people — regardless of generation — prefer to make their own decisions about how to spend or allocate their hard-earned funds.”

Biography:

Sheila Warren began her career as a Wall Street attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore before turning to philanthropy and civic technology. She majored in economics at Harvard University and received a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. Warren served in leadership roles at NGOsource, BRIDGE and TechSoup before joining the World Economic Forum in 2017 as the founding head of its blockchain and distributed ledger technology team.

Warren later became a member of the executive committee and head of data, blockchain and digital assets at the international nongovernmental and lobbying organization. She was chosen to lead the executive strategy and management of the WEF’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which has centers in 16 countries and works with governments, companies and stakeholders to accelerate the adoption of new technologies.

Warren is credited with founding the WEF’s Digital Currency Governance Consortium, Crypto Impact and Sustainability Accelerator, and Data for Common Purpose initiatives, with a specific focus on blockchain, crypto, digital assets, artificial intelligence, extended reality, the metaverse, digital public goods and other cutting-edge technologies. While at the WEF, she also co-founded the Crypto Research and Design Lab with the mission of using evidence-based thought leadership to accelerate the crypto industry toward its goal of creating a more equitable, inclusive society.

Warren’s 2022:

Throughout 2022, Warren maintained her stance that the crypto industry is for those who are serious about bringing about a positive change through disruptive technologies like blockchain. In February, she was named the first CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI), a global alliance formed to demonstrate the transformational promise of crypto and educate policymakers, regulators and people around the globe. In her new role at the Washington-based crypto lobbying group, Warren took on responsibility for strategizing and leading these efforts.

Driven by her passion for empowering historically excluded communities and addressing systemic bias that affects traditional institutions, Warren advocated for the benefits of blockchain technology and shaped conversations on how it could be used to create universal financial opportunity. 

Warren’s 2023:

Warren’s focus in 2023 is on developing CCI’s content pipelines, with broadly three major content categories in the works. She is curating policy primers for a crypto audience and crypto primers for those interested in understanding how policy matters pertaining to the burgeoning crypto industry are framed. The third category, “crypto in action” stories, will be broader and intended for everyone curious about how cryptocurrencies are changing the future of human transactions.

As the head of CCI, Warren closely monitors studies and proposals floated in the United States, European Union and other major markets, often explaining the benefits and pitfalls of any proposed legislation. She is also doubling down on her efforts to improve crypto education and break down the various concepts that keep coming up during policy discussions. She believes that regulation and policies that emerge in the period up to 2024 will shape the trajectory of the entire crypto ecosystem far into the future. 

Her role in shaping the discourse — and eventually, the finer details of policy action — will undoubtedly grow larger in the new year as she continues to voice issues and solutions to matters that concern the digital asset space.