Garrick Hileman

Garrick Hileman is best known as an expert on Bitcoin and alternative currencies. He makes regular appearances in the media including CNBC, BBC, NPR, and Sky News, and he is frequently sought as a speaker. He has written about Bitcoin for Project Syndicate and CoinDesk. Hileman is also the author of the "2017 Global Cryptocurrency Benchmarking Study" and the "2017 Global Blockchain Benchmarking Study," both published by the University of Cambridge. Furthermore, he created and published the CoinDesk “State of Bitcoin” and “State of Blockchain” reports from 2013-2016.

Hileman's other research interests include systemic risk, sovereign debt, financial crises, black markets, financial repression, taxation, regulation, banking, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He has been invited to present his research to government agencies, private institutions, and conferences in Asia, the U.S., Europe, and Africa. Over the past two years, Hileman's teaching at the London School of Economics has focused on comparative national economic performance. He is currently the Head of Research at Blockchain and a co-founder of Mosaic, a decentralized market intelligence network.

Prior to returning to academia, Hileman worked for over 15 years in the private sector with both start-ups and established companies such as Bank of America, The Home Depot, IDG, and Allianz. He previously co-founded and led the investment team for a $300 million San Francisco-based tech incubator and was part of the team that released a new stablecoin design called AAA. He also worked at Montgomery Securities in both equity research and corporate finance, where he executed over $1 billion in M&A and underwriting transactions. Hileman has served on the boards of directors of both publicly traded and private companies and has worked or consulted in a wide range of industries, including banking, technology, online media, specialty finance, insurance, business services, retail, non-profit, education, and government. He has been ranked as one of the most influential economists in the UK and Ireland.

Hileman’s non-profit activities include serving as a Big City Mountaineers guide for at-risk urban teens on backcountry excursions in the Sierra Nevada. He also was a founding member of the record-setting PolarVision expedition, which raised funds and awareness for sight-related charities.