Quantum computing, stablecoins and AI are transforming the financial landscape with both possibilities and threats. In this tech panel, Michele Mosca, founder and CEO of evolutionQ, Agostino Capponi, Professor at Columbia University, and Cameron Schuler, Chief Commercialization Officer at the Vector Institute discussed rapidly emerging technologies. Mosca talked about quantum computers requiring a complete rethinking of cybersecurity, Capponi traced the evolution of stablecoins and their growing role in digital finance, and Schuler highlighted AI’s shift from niche research to global deployment. warning that the biggest risk for Canadian FIs is inaction.
CEO and Co-founder, evolutionQ
Dr. Mosca is CEO and co-founder of evolutionQ, a start-up that provides scalable defense-in-depth with post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and quantum key distribution (QKD) software solutions for cryptographic resilience and quantum-safe security. He is a world-renowned expert in cryptography, at the intersection of quantum computing and cybersecurity. Dr. Mosca has been instrumental in promoting the importance of cryptography as a critical cybersecurity control protecting both data and communications.
Prior to evolutionQ, Dr. Mosca was a founder of the world-leading Institute for Quantum Computing, a Professor in the Department of Combinatorics & Optimization at the University of Waterloo, and a founding member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. His work on quantum computing has been published widely in top journals and textbooks.
Dr. Mosca worked on cryptography during his BMath at the University of Waterloo and his MSc at Oxford, and obtained his Doctorate at Oxford in Quantum Computer Algorithms. He was appointed as a Knight in the Order of Merit by the Government of Italy in 2018, recognizing his contributions in quantum information science and digital security, as well as teaching and outreach.
Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations; Research Director of the Center for Digital Finance and Technologies,
Columbia University
Agostino Capponi is a Professor at Columbia University, where he is also the founding director of the Columbia Center for Digital Finance and Technology. His current research interests are in financial technology, blockchain and crypto economics, machine learning in finance, market microstructure, systemic and liquidity risk, climate finance, and energy markets. His research has been recognized with the 2018 NSF CAREER award, a JP Morgan AI Research Faculty award, the UBRI Innovator award, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers award. His research has also been covered by various media outlets, including Bloomberg, the Financial Times, Vox, and Politico. Agostino serves as an editor of Management Science in the Finance Department, co-editor of Mathematics and Financial Economics, and area editor of Operations Research. Agostino is the former Chair of the SIAG/FME Activity Group and of the INFORMS Finance Section, and a current member of the Council of the Bachelier Finance Society. Agostino is co-editor of the book Machine Learning and Data Sciences for Financial Markets: A Guide to Contemporary Practices, published in 2023 by the Cambridge University press.
Chief Commercialization Officer and Vice President, Industry Innovation, Vector Institute
Cameron Schuler is the Chief Commercialization Officer & Vice President, Industry Innovation at the Vector Institute. He is the former Executive Director of Amii, where, for 8 years, he led one of the top-ranked Machine Learning and AI groups in the world. Cameron’s multifaceted career has covered finance, business & product development, consumer products, IT and general management from start-ups to mature companies. His industry experience includes Alternative Energy, Banking, Consumer Products, Information Technology (Consumer and Enterprise), Investment Sales and Trading, Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Medical Devices, Oil & Gas, and Oil & Gas Services. Roles have included COO, CFO, President and CEO and he was COO & CFO of a food manufacturer whose products lead to sales of over 250 million units.
He has founded numerous start-up companies (including medical devices as well as computer software & hardware). Cameron is Chair & Co-founder of PFM Scheduling Services, was Managing Director & Co-Founder of Schuler Law Group, a boutique tax planning law firm and spent 8 years in investment sales & trading. He attained an MBA from Queen’s University and completed numerous investment management programs.