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Annelise Osborne’s Blockchain, From Hoodies to Dresses
Henry Ford said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.'”
Annelise Osborne uses this quote in her new book, “From Hoodies to Suits: Innovating Digital Assets for Traditional Finance.”
The Westport writer and fintech executive isn’t referring to the Model T, but to blockchain.
But a century later, the point is the same: Most people have no idea how to innovate or what new ideas mean for their lives.
They better pay attention. If they don’t, they’ll get hit by a car or a concept they don’t understand.
Osborne took a winding road to his book on blockchain, published last week by Wiley. She grew up in the Marshall Islands (where her father worked in the missile industry). After William & Mary and Columbia Business School, you began your career in New York.
He has worked in financial services (including as a senior vice president at Moody’s, where he managed the commercial mortgage-backed securities oversight team, responsible for monitoring ratings on $400 billion in bonds), and has served on numerous corporate boards .
Since April, Osborne has been the chief business officer of Kadena, a blockchain company.
After COVID, she moved to Westport. Like the Marshall Islands, it’s on the water. There are great schools for her 3 teenage boys (and, she happily says, a public golf course).
She is involved with Homes with Hope, rescue dogs and Startup Westport. The city’s group of public/private tech entrepreneurs is a perfect fit.
Osborne has gotten to know many of Westport’s most creative minds (many of whom are women). In turn, they are interested in what you know about blockchain.
A way to visualize the blockchain. Annelise Osborne offers another way, with words.
Explaining how and why finance is becoming interconnected is the goal of his new book. Blockchain, he says, is a $2.6 trillion market “created by (people wearing) hoodies. But (people in suits) need to understand how and why it matters.”
Blockchain can save investment firms like Templeton, JP Morgan, and KKR enormous sums, Osborne says, through operational efficiencies. In fact, they already have.
And with baby boomers passing trillions of dollars in assets to (primarily) Generation Z, many of whom get investment information from “finfluencers,” who understand blockchain technology and seek out non-traditional types of companies to invest in, it is It is a duty for those in suits and ties to understand what the “hooded” people are doing and thinking.
Osborne notes that the lines between the two groups are blurring. When Mark Zuckerberg recently testified before Congress, he ditched his signature look for a more conservative one.
Osborne calls his book “a Michael Lewis read.” It’s full of stories that people with blockchain issues can relate to.
Annelise Osborne (holding a book), with (from left) Doug Bross, Zac Mathias and Marion Jones, at this month’s launch party at Mexicue.
This being Westport — a town with plenty of clothes and a growing number of hoodies — Osborne credits several locals in his book. They include Keith Styrcula, founder and CEO of Glasstower Digital; investment manager Ilka Gregory; Gregg Bell, senior vice president of the HBAR Foundation; and Patrick O’Kain, partner at RW3 Ventures.
The book created a bit of a stir. It sold 75 copies in 10 minutes at a cryptocurrency conference in Austin. It sold out on Amazon and topped the charts in a couple of new release categories.
Osborne now sets off on a promotional tour of his book in financial capitals around the world.
What’s next? He’s also keeping an eye on other efficiencies in finance, including “programmable money.” Bonds can pay interest on their own; watch out for automated margin calls.
You heard it here for the first time, from Annelise Osborne, a financial whiz from Westport who wears neither a hoodie nor a suit.
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