Our Members
MAMA is a thriving and growing community. Members enjoy a wide range of benefits as well as the opportunity to influence the development of on-chain asset management.
Our vision
Decentralised technologies - blockchains, smart contracts and digital assets - have the potential to transform asset management. They promise to change in profound ways how funds are set up, operated and regulated.
We envision a world where the power of blockchain technology is unleashed, providing amongst other things, new foundations for the asset management industry. We believe that investment funds of the future will be entirely set up, operated, audited and regulated using blockchain technology.
These ‘decentralised funds’ will deliver greater efficiency, transparency, security and dramatically lower costs for investors and investment managers. In the future, all financial assets and investment products – such as equities, gold, real estate and diamonds – will be tokenised and when that happens, blockchain-based asset management will provide the best investment vehicles for both crypto and traditional, real-world assets.
Currently, the fund industry is beset by challenges; the complicated web of financial intermediaries which exist to protect investors from fraud, malfeasance, or even honest mistakes, has actually introduced a lack of transparency, inefficiencies, risks and consequently, higher costs. Decentralised technologies provide a range of benefits:
All transactions are recorded (transparently and immutably) on the blockchain, enabling real-time accounting, auditing and investor reporting.
All assets can remain in the custody of investors themselves or in smart contracts which can be redeemed at any time, eliminating the need for custodians.
Since transactions take place directly between two parties, and are near instantaneous, there is no need for transfer agents, or clearing and settlement services.
All data about fund performance is on-chain and therefore transparent and accessible, enabling investors and managers alike to compare fund allocation and performance.
Fund managers define the key rules and parameters of a fund which are in turn deployed to the blockchain and enforced by smart contracts, eradicating the need for fund administrators.
Many of these benefits directly address regulators’ concerns about fraud, money laundering and even tax compliance. In addition, by significantly reducing the costs of setting up and operating a fund, decentralised technologies also lower the barriers for new entrants, thereby enabling greater competition and ultimately more choice for the end-investor. In short, decentralised technologies enable fund managers and investors to operate in a way which is secure, transparent, efficient and dramatically less costly.
“Blockchain technology holds the key to transforming asset management - by replacing industry middlemen functions which prevent ‘bad behaviour’ with smart contracts. Real-time auditing, investor reporting, portfolio transparency and other benefits directly address regulators’ major concerns about financial market risks. On-chain asset management reduces cost, risk, protects investors and reduces barriers to entry for aspiring fund managers. MAMA aims to raise awareness about the potential for blockchain technology in asset management to ensure the benefits are widely distributed. ”
Developments in legal and regulatory frameworks have not, however, kept pace with these innovations. Currently, any investor setting up a collective investment fund using decentralised technologies cannot do so while being fully regulated and compliant. We will work with and on behalf of our membership to raise awareness of the benefits of blockchain technology and make the case for change to regulatory and legal frameworks by showcasing the best of blockchain through action-research, pilots and experiments. In this way we hope to realise our vision for on-chain asset management.
Our Team
Executive Board
MONA EL Isa
Founder
Co-founder and CEO of Avantgarde Finance Ltd. Mona was formerly the co-founder and CEO of Melonport AG which developed Enzyme, the on-chain asset management protocol. Mona is a former star-trader at Goldman Sachs, promoted to Vice President by the age of 26 and made the “top 30 under 30” list in Trader Magazine in 2008 and Forbes Magazine in 2011 after profitably trading the 2008 and 2011 crashes.
Hansjoerg Hettich
executive director
Hansjoerg co-founded MAMA and is managing the association since 2018. He has 12 years’ experience in the alternative investment space. He worked for Man Investments in London and Switzerland and as a hedge fund structurer at LGT Capital Partners. He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and is passionate about the potential of blockchain technology.
Andreas Glarner
president
Andreas is a partner at the innovative law firm MME in Zurich, Switzerland. He works with international companies in the technology, industrial and internet sectors. He specialises in the fields of intellectual property, unfair competition, advertising law, licensing and distribution, as well as information technology and data protection.
IOANA SURPATEANU
Ioana is a Web3 and DeFi investor and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Strategy W, a crypto and emerging tech consultancy designed to accelerate specific verticals within the Metaverse and the DeFi 2.0 ecosystems. She is Chief Strategy Officer for Domin Network, a DePin rollup and decentralised commerce platform and holds advisory board positions for a variety of Web+ and DeFi projects.
RAPHAEL HALDNER
As Head of Funds and Capital Markets at Bank Frick in Liechtenstein, Raphael is responsible for product development, funds and issuing services and works on innovative blockchain banking solutions like crypto structuring.
CHRIS DONOVAN
Chris is Chief Commercial Officer at the NEAR Foundation, a Swiss-based non-profit supporting the ongoing growth and development of the NEAR Protocol. Prior to joining the NEAR Foundation, Chris was a partner at Web3 accelerator Outlier Ventures. Chris is a qualified solicitor (England & Wales) and has been advising and working with Web3 and other technology projects for several years.
Working Committee
Alisher Tashpulatov
APAC Ambassador
Alisher is an experienced executive and investor in the crypto space. From its inception, he assisted in leading one of Switzerland’s most successful crypto startups, Crypto Finance AG, to an exit. He was also recently CEO and Member of the Board of Directors of Anchored Coins AG in Zug, and was formerly involved in multiple projects as an investor and advisor. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Northeastern University in Boston.
Alexander Lindgren
US Law & regulation
Alexander works as a partner at boutique law firm Lindgren, Lindgren, Oehm & You LLP advising hedge funds, issuers, and developers in the blockchain sector.
Advisory Board
Mathias Maurer
Advisor
Mathias Maurer was the CEO and CRO of Crypto Fund AG within the Crypto Finance Group. In previous roles he worked at Credit Suisse, Swisscanto and RBR Capital Advisors AG. Meanwhile he’s Co-Owner and CEO of torck capital management AG. He is specialised in the areas of business and process implementation and organisational structuring.
Prof. Dr. Fabian Schär
Advisor
Fabian Schär is a Professor for DLT (Blockchain) and FinTech at the University of Basel and the Managing Director of the Center for Innovative Finance. His research focus is on Blockchain applications and Decentralised Finance.
Our Projects
We work with and on behalf of our membership to realise the vision for on-chain asset management.
We carry out the following activities:
Work with regulators to raise awareness of the benefits of decentralised technologies and ensure a suitable regulatory regime for on-chain asset management.
Carry out projects and pilots to test how blockchain technologies can best be deployed to transform asset management.
Disseminate resources and insights about on-chain asset management, including the latest insights from regulators, policymakers and academics.
Organise events to grow and strengthen the MAMA community and to foster discussion between industry, academia, policymakers and regulators.
If you would like to find out more about what we do, or how to get involved and become a MAMA member, get in touch with us here.