Blockchain: What it is & implications for investors – PowerShares – 4.12.18

Summary:

On Demand Soon.

While bitcoin might be one of the most popular subjects within the market today, how well do investors truly grasp the underlying technology, blockchain, and its broader implications for the economy as a whole?

Invesco’s largest ETF, QQQ, invests in some of the most innovative companies in the world. In an effort to bring their insights to investors, we will hear from Microsoft, a QQQ constituent, as well as our index provider, Nasdaq, on how they utilize this technology to continue to evolve. Please join us for a live webcast where we cover the following:

• Understand what blockchain is from a practitioner’s point of view and how broad its application can be
• Learn how large companies, such as Microsoft and Nasdaq, are implementing blockchain
• Hear about today’s trends within blockchain as well as what may lie ahead
• Receive an overview of Invesco’s QQQ ETF focused on positioning, performance and valuation

Speakers:

Yorke E. Rhodes III is a passionate technologist with broad interests, always drawn to the next shiny object. He earned a BS in Computer Science from NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He has worked in industry for over 20 years, in enterprises such as Microsoft & IBM and startups in wireless, mobile, digital marketing & ecommerce. At Goldman Sachs Investment Bank he built their first wireless internet ingress and advised bankers in wireless, telecom and media. As a young developer he saw the beginnings of client server databases, obscure languages like ada, lisp & paradox and the birth of the internet. Blockchain piqued his interest in the summer of 2015 with the launch of Ethereum. He cofounded Microsoft’s blockchain initiatives working in collaboration with the partner community and continues driving it today in his role on the Blockchain Engineering team. An Adjunct Professor at NYU, he has taught Digital Marketing, Ecommerce and Intrapreneurship and is currently developing a course on the user centric economy called #OurNextEconomy.

Fredrik re-joined Nasdaq in 2008. He is now holding the position as Vice President Blockchain Innovation where he is responsible for Nasdaq’s blockchain innovation initiative. In this role he is advising the C-suite on corporate objectives and strategies for Nasdaq’s activities in the blockchain space and also responsible for implementation and communication of approved strategies.

Before August 2015 Fredrik held the position as Deputy Head of Nasdaq Commodities where he was responsible for the management of Nasdaq Commodities’ European activities.

Between 2004 and 2008 Fredrik worked for the IntercontinentalExchange in London, UK where he was heading up the Market Development team for ICE’s European operation. Before joining ICE, Fredrik worked at Nasdaq’s predecessor OMX from 1995 where he managed various business units supplying exchange and clearing solutions to energy markts.

John Frank is the QQQ Equity Product Strategist that represents Invesco’s exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In his role, John works on researching, developing product-specific strategies and creating thought leadership to position and promote Invesco’s largest ETF, QQQ.

Prior to joining Invesco, John was an Assistant Portfolio Manager at RS Core Capital, a multi-asset class investment firm. In this role, John’s primary responsibilities included research, risk management and asset allocation with a focus on the equity and hedge portfolios. Before RS Core Capital, John spent six years at J.P. Morgan Asset Management advising institutional investors on asset/liability management, asset allocation and pension regulation while working across the Defined Benefit, Defined Contribution, Endowment and Foundation segments. John began his career at General Electric in a leadership development program where he was placed within the GE Energy division.

John has a BSE in Industrial & Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and an MBA with Honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in Analytic Finance, Econometrics, and Statistics. He is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Chicago as well as the Beta Gamma Sigma Society.