Rod Askarov
Entrepreneur in New York
Rod Askarov has been included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 List in Finance and Venture Capital field and has extensive experience in trade finance, web 3.0/blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) investments globally.
He created the first blockchain based trade finance ecosystem where digital assets are used to finance real world cross-border trade transactions. Market capitalization of the token has grown 10 times within the first month and 3000% within first 8 months of the listing on several exchanges globally. He is also working on democratizing asset ownership globally and real-world asset tokenization of financial institutions, real estate and financial instruments including first AI-powered tokenized commercial bank.
For the past 15 years Rod Askarov has been mainly focused on filling the funding gap in trade finance that exists in developing countries for small and medium sized businesses that either exceeded or do not have access to banking facilities. He has executed billions of dollars in trade finance transactions in more than 100 countries around the world with a team of over 1000 trade finance professionals and utilizes digital finance, blockchain technology and online crowdfunding in funding the physical movement of goods.
Prior to trade finance, Rod Askarov invested in distressed real estate and disruptive technology companies backed by leading venture capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers (KPCB), Benchmark Capital, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Khosla Ventures. Notable companies he facilitated investments to are Facebook, Twitter, Bloom Energy and others. Senior partners he worked alongside with were included on the Forbes Midas List. Currently he invests in companies focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Web 3.0/Blokchain and alternative fixed income.
Rod Askarov speaks several languages and served on the board of CAF, 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity foundation. He held several certifications and designations including Registered Investment Adviser Representative by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Series 7 and Series 66 licenses by Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Rod Askarov currently operates mainly from One World Trade Center, 85th Floor, New York, NY 10007, United States of America.