John D'Agostino | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Williams College Oxford University Harvard Business School |
Occupation(s) | Founder, Dagger Consulting LLC |
John Joseph D'Agostino is an American business executive and entrepreneur. D'Agostino is a senior advisor to Coinbase [1] and Chairman of US Asset Management Committee for the Department for International Trade. [2] He previously was Managing Director at the world's largest fund governance firm DMS Offshore, [3] where he was also on the board of hedge funds providing independent oversight. [4] He was previously a managing director at Alkeon Capital Management, a multibillion-dollar registered investment adviser. [5] [6] Prior to this, D'Agostino was known primarily for his involvement in the early development of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange. [6] [7] In 2021, Mr. D'Agostino co-founded the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) Digital Asset Working Group. [8] He was named Fellow of the AIF Global Innovation Institute in 2022. [9] D'Agostino has been on the board of Surf Air, an aviation and air charter company since 2018. [10]
His story was the focus of the book Rigged, the True Story of an Ivy League Kid who Changed the World of Oil by New York Times best-selling author Ben Mezrich. [6] [11] Summit Entertainment acquired the screen rights to Rigged and the book has been optioned for film adaptation. [12]
D'Agostino appeared in "The Startup of You" by Reid Hoffman in 2012. [13] He is the founder of Dagger LLC, a strategic consulting and advisory services. He is a speaker at conferences and meetings on business topics such as negotiation, markets, and hedge funds. [14] [15]
D'Agostino grew up in a working-class family in Brooklyn, New York. [6] He earned a scholarship to attend Regis High School and subsequently Williams College for his BA degree. He studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University, and obtained his MBA from Harvard Business School. [6] [14]
After graduating from Harvard Business School, D'Agostino joined the New York Mercantile Exchange where he helped transition the floor to electronic trading. [11] He became the exchange's youngest Head of Strategy and led the effort to create the Dubai Mercantile Exchange in partnership with the Dubai Government. [6] [7] D'Agostino's efforts led to the development of the first Middle East commodity derivatives exchange, [16] [17] which laid the foundations for accelerating the development of capital markets in the region. [6] [17]
He subsequently served as Director of Corporate Development at Second Market and Director for hedge fund and private equity consulting at KPMG Advisory before joining Alkeon Capital Management. [11]
D'Agostino has written case studies used by Harvard University and has been a guest lecturer for INSEAD University. He currently lectures at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia Business School. [4] [18] In 2012, he was a speaker at the Australian Davos Forum in Hayman Island, Australia. [19] He has guest lectured for the United States Navy on the topic of "financial exchange expansion as an indicator of shifting political power" and advised the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing on its successful $1.3 billion acquisition of the London Metal Exchange. [6] D'Agostino also serves as the Chair of the New York City UK Consulate's Asset Management Commmitte. [20]
In 2007, his story became the focus of the book Rigged, the True Story of an Ivy League Kid who Changed the World of Oil by Ben Mezrich. The book was published in 2008 in United Kingdom with a slight variation in the title as Rigged, The True Story of a Wall Street Novice who Changed the World of Oil Forever.
According to the author's note, [21] D'Agostino was initially reluctant for the book to be written and author Ben Mezrich convinced D'Agostino by using a pseudonym, changing the name of the primary character to David Russo. [6] [11] [21] The book appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list for one week in 2007 and another in 2008. [22] [23] Summit Entertainment acquired the screen rights to Rigged. [12]
D'Agostino was mentioned in a book by Wall Street journalist Leah McGrath Goodman, titled The Asylum: Inside the Rise and Ruin of the Global Oil Market published in 2011. [24] The book, written as an exposé, traces the New York Mercantile Exchange's transformation from an obscure market specializing in commodity futures in the 1960s to its modern-day venue as the world's energy exchange. [25]
In 2012, D'Agostino was featured in the book The Start-up of you by LinkedIn founder and Chairman Reid Hoffman. [26] The book highlights lessons from Silicon Valley's most innovative entrepreneurs. [27]
At the 2018 World Capital Markets Symposium, when asked to comment on the sustainability, diversity and equality in the finance industry, D'Agostino remarked "It doesn't matter if we are ready or not, the future is decidedly female" which received considerable media interest. [28]
In June 2018, John D'Agostino and Nouriel Roubini led a discussion on cryptocurrencies at the Battle of the Quants in New York. [29] In contrast to Roubini, D'Agostino remained neutral on cryptocurrencies and the blockchain ecosystem and its viability in the short-term, and cautiously optimistic in the long-term. [30] D'Agostino estimated that 80 percent of ICOs were likely to fail, a figure quoted by Bloomberg. [29]
In May 2019, D'Agostino was invited by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to speak at their first FinTech forum on Digital Assets. [31]
D'Agostino was a featured speaker at the Saudi LEAP Conference. [32]
D'Agostino is married, has two daughters and resides in New York City. [6]
A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gold and oil. Futures contracts are the oldest way of investing in commodities. Commodity markets can include physical trading and derivatives trading using spot prices, forwards, futures, and options on futures. Farmers have used a simple form of derivative trading in the commodities market for centuries for price risk management.
The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is a commodity futures exchange owned and operated by CME Group of Chicago. NYMEX is located at One North End Avenue in Brookfield Place in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City.
Baker Hughes Company is a global energy technology company co-headquartered in Houston, Texas and London, UK. As one of the world's largest oil field services, industrial and energy technology companies, it provides products and services to the oil and gas industry for exploration and production, as well as other energy and industrial applications. It operates in over 120 countries, with facilities in Australia, Brazil, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Nouriel Roubini is a Turkish-born Iranian-American economic consultant, economist, speaker and writer. He is a Professor Emeritus since 2021 at the Stern School of Business of New York University.
Ben Mezrich is an American author.
Transocean Ltd. is an American drilling company. It is the world's largest offshore drilling contractor based on revenue and is based in Steinhausen, Switzerland. The company has offices in 20 countries, including Canada, the United States, Norway, United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
The Cincinnati Time Store (1827–1830) was the first in a series of retail stores created by American individualist anarchist Josiah Warren to test his economic labor theory of value. The experimental store operated from May 18, 1827, until May 1830. He sold things at-cost plus a small markup for his time. It is usually considered to be the first time alternative currency labor notes were used, and as such the first experiment in what would later be called mutualism. He also founded stores in New Harmony, Indiana, and at Modern Times, Long Island. The store in Cincinnati closed in 1830 with Warren being satisfied he demonstrated running and managing a business without the "erection of any power over the individual". His theory — replacing money with time — was turned into an actual practical demonstration project. It was the first such activity, preceding similar labor notes in Europe by more than 20 years, and still has implications for other concepts of currency such as cryptocurrencies. Nonetheless, at the time it was the most popular mercantile institution in Cincinnati.
Valaris Limited is an offshore drilling contractor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and incorporated in Bermuda. It is the largest offshore drilling and well drilling company in the world, and owns 52 rigs, including 36 offshore jackup rigs, 11 drillships, and 5 semi-submersible platform drilling rigs.
Reid Garrett Hoffman is an American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. Hoffman is the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily for professional networking. He is also chairman of venture capital firm Village Global and a co-founder of Inflection AI.
Seadrill is an offshore drilling contractor providing worldwide offshore drilling services to the oil and gas industry. Its primary business is the ownership and operation of drillships, semi-submersible rigs, and jack-up rigs for operations in shallow to ultra-deep water in both benign and harsh environments. It provides a contract-based service and primarily serves the oil super-majors, integrated oil and gas, state-owned national oil, and independent oil and gas companies.
The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) is a commodity exchange based in Dubai currently listing its flagship futures contract, DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (OQD). Launched in 2007, the DME aims to become the crude oil pricing benchmark for the Asian market with its Oman Crude Oil contract, like the Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) North Sea Brent is to Europe and the New York Mercantile Exchange’s (NYMEX) West Texas Intermediate is to North America.
Deepwater drilling, or deep well drilling, is the process of creating holes in the Earth's crust using a drilling rig for oil extraction under the deep sea. There are approximately 3400 deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico with depths greater than 150 meters.
Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange was an electronic commodities exchange established in Hong Kong for the trading of commodity futures, options and other financial derivatives. The exchange was originally pitched as a platform to trade oil futures. In fact, it ended up trading mainly silver and gold futures.
Lamprell plc, based in the United Arab Emirates, specialises in construction and fabrication, servicing both the Renewables and Oil & Gas industries. It builds wind turbine foundations as well as shallow-water drilling jackup rigs, liftboats and land rigs, and it also carries out rig refurbishment. In 2021 the company added a Digital business unit servicing not only the renewables and oil & gas sectors but other related industries. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.
Charles Shrem IV is an American entrepreneur and bitcoin advocate. He co-founded the now-defunct startup company BitInstant, and is a founding member of the Bitcoin Foundation. In 2014 he was sentenced to two years in prison for aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money-transmitting business related to the Silk Road marketplace. He was released from prison in 2016. In 2017, he joined Jaxx and served as its chief operating officer, and founded cryptocurrency advisory CryptoIQ.
Rigged: The True Story of a Wall Street Novice who Changed the World of Oil Forever is a book by author Ben Mezrich. The book recounts the story of John D'Agostino, whom the book renames David Russo. The hardback of the book was number 10 on the New York Times Best Seller list in 2007, and was number 29 in paperback nonfiction on December 14, 2008.
OKX is a global cryptocurrency spot and derivatives exchange and the second biggest crypto exchange by trading volume, serving over 50 million people globally. It was founded by Star Xu in 2017, who is also the CEO as of 2023. The President is Hong Fang and the CMO is Haider Rafique. OKX is owned by OK Group, which also owns the crypto exchange Okcoin. As of August 2024, OKX is Top 3 Spot Cryptocurrency exchange in the world according to Coinmarketcap with a Spot Exchange Score of 7.8.
BitMEX is a cryptocurrency exchange and derivative trading platform. It is owned and operated by HDR Global Trading Limited, which is registered in the Seychelles.
Bitcoin Billionaires: A True Story of Genius, Betrayal, and Redemption is a 2019 book by Ben Mezrich. A sequel to The Accidental Billionaires, the book traces Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss' journey into the world of cryptocurrency, investing in bitcoin and encountering early adopters Charlie Shrem, Roger Ver, Erik Voorhees, Naval Ravikant and Dan Kaminsky, in the face of mounting scrutiny from government regulators and the financial establishment.