User:Josh.ramprate/sandbox

   Wulf Kaal    

Wulf Kaal (ˈwʊlf ˈkɔl; born 1974) is a German-American lawyer, professor and entrepreneur who is known for being an authority on decentralization, one of the founding ideas behind blockchain and DAO technology. He is one of the most widely published proponents of blockchain innovation in law and corporate governance.

Early life

Kaal was born in Duisburg-Homberg, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. His Jewish grandfather taught at Dresden University while also working as an economist and lawyer but tragically he was killed by the Nazis. Kaal's parents died by the time he was 14, and Kaal lived with a state-appointed guardian. Kaal studied finance, law and economics in Europe. At 24, Kaal immigrated to the United States.

Career

Wulf Kaal worked for Goldman Sachs in their Securities Division with a specific focus upon Foreign Exchange Trade Analysis. During the course of his professional career he has also worked for Cravath, Swain & Moore, the leading law firm in New York City, as a Corporate Associate. Kaal is currently a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in downtown Minneapolis where he teaches Disruptive Innovation, Coding for Lawyers, Dynamic Regulation, Private Investment Funds, Federal Securities Regulation, Corporate Law, International Finance, and European Union Law School of Law to name but a few. Kaal has also taught at the University of Minnesota Law School, Humboly University in Berlin Germany, European Business School in Weisbaden Germany, and Tilburg University Law School in Netherlands.

Organizations Founded

Kaal co-founded DEVxDAO, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that gives grants to DAO developers and CRDAO. DEVxDAO was created as a place for projects, engineers, and protocols to be able to focus upon innovation within emerging technology fields. The DEVxDAO framework simplifies collaboration, allows developers to help weigh in on core decisions and direction, enables discussions to occur transparently, determine the milestones of each mission, and ultimately most importantly decentralize. In partnership with XPRIZE, DEVxDAO has established a grant in excess of €3 million for the development of new philosophies for advanced, self-governing communities integrated into web3. Kaal has also co-founded another organization called Menagerie which is focused upon uplifting modern communities through the application of decentralized power models that exponentially challenge societal norms by increasing scope and social impact values. This organization was cofounded along with Tony Greenberg, founder of Ramprate and Syzygy Impact, and was structured on the premise of building self-governed communities for a new economy with better long-term incentives for individuals and communities as a whole. Menagerie is a platform that allows humans to re-think and re-imagine the true societal impact through the lens of decentralization and inclusive environment.

Newest Projects

In 2023, announced during the World Economic Forum, Dr. Kaal helped engineer the first mainstream adoption of decentralized voting technology based on his designs. This voting technology was presented collaboratively with the announcement of a cross-organizational partnership to establish a grant in excess of €3 million for the development of new philosophies for advanced, self-governing communities integrated into web3. This collaborative effort is being supported by XPRIZE which is led by Peter Diamandis and Anousheh Ansari; DEVxDAO in conjunction with principal partner Casper Labs; Vatom led by Eric Pulier; Menagerie led by Wulf Kaal; and Ramprate and it’s Syzygy impact division led by Tony Greenberg. Categories that will be intentionally targeted are Strategy for decentralized community, voting and governance; Self-sovereign identity model; Universal ‘Wallet of Wallets’ enabling the collection of all digital assets; Web3 community incentivisation design & implementation; Reputation-based community governance, voting and staking; Self-service creator tools enabling innovation to the entire ecosystem; and Community engagement tools implementation and moderation. This exploration into impact-driven community development was comprehensively highlighted by GlobeNewswire.

Public Speaking

Kaal speaks regularly at leading conferences in the United States, Europe and Asia. His speaking engagements include presentations at the European Central Bank, Harvard University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, UCLA, George Washington University, Northwestern University, Emory University, the University of Notre Dame, Bocconi University and Tilburg University, among many others. These speeches are primarily focused upon a wide range of topics within the overarching emerging decentralized technology space.

Research Overview

Wulf Kaal’s research focuses on innovation, technology, blockchain technology applications, smart contracts, hedge funds and dynamic regulatory methods. Wulf’s scholarly papers have acted as a key contribution to the development of the available literature on DAOs. The underlying principles that guide his work are structured around a three part mission; Take technology into our own hands, Re-configure the web so it benefits the human-animal, not just the machine, and Decide when, where, and how we work. These guiding principles work to establish a society with anonymity built-in, resulting in race, culture, and heritage playing less of a role and thus an exponential increase in the equitable treatment of all. Wulf is working to accomplish this mission through devoting his life to building decentralized online communities by researching community incentives with the underlying foundational belief that proper incentives can accomplish the formation of fair, engaging, and successful online communities

“Emerging decentralized technology transcends traditional economic notions of capitalism versus socialism and inaugurates new forms of economic exchange.” - Wulf

Initial Coin Offerings: The Top 25 Jurisdictions and Their Comparative Regulatory Responses, delves into the evolution of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) marketplace and establishes a comparative analysis of the Top 25 ICO Jurisdictions. This work establishes a holistic perspective on a country by country basis for regulatory mechanisms that are implemented for ICOs, cryptocurrencies, DLT, compliance programs, securities, and prohibition of exposed financial institutions. Initial Coin Offerings: Emerging Practices, Risk Factors, and Red Flags analyzes the emerging ICO market as of 2017 with a specific focus upon market practices, crypto economics for ICO startups, and red flags for regulatory/industry improvements. Legal Education in the Blockchain Revolution advocates for litigators, regulators, and judges to adapt in a manner that cultivates the creation of new skill sets to address this new field of disruption within the legal environment as 21st century technology, with a specific focus upon the blockchain revolution, increasingly changes our society. Regulation Tomorrow: What Happens When Technology is Faster than the Law advocates for an evolved legal system that is more dynamic, adaptable, and proactive. This article highlights specific opportunities for the legal system to embrace innovation in the disruption technology landscape. Regulatory Competition in EU Corporate Law after Inspire Art: Unbundling Delaware's Product for Europe postulates that corporate law within Europe must not follow in-line with the legislatory competition model that has been established within the United States. Blockchain Solutions for Agency Problems in Corporate Governance demonstrates the role that blockchain technology can play in structuring the regulation of internal and external applications for corporate governance. Hedge Fund Manager Registration Under the Dodd-Frank Act examines the ability of hedge funds to adapt to the regulations and reporting requirements from the Dodd-Frank Act. This work attracted the attention of industry peers and leading media outlets as demonstrated by the article Who's Afraid of Dodd-Frank? Not Wall Street from Bloomberg. Legal Education in a Digital Age: Why 'Coding for Lawyers' Matters depicts the emerging coding skill set that lawyers will need in order to adequately fulfill the duties of modern legal practitioners. Crypto Transaction Dispute Resolution this article from Wulf postulates solutions that would simplify and streamline smart contract dispute resolution. This introduction of distributed jurisdiction offered an alternative mechanism for the legal component of the blockchain that resolves disputed situations. How to Regulate Disruptive Innovation - From Facts to Data postulates that investment data can provide crucial information for predicting and identifying emerging innovative technologies. While a mere glance into the full body of scholarly work that Wulf has contributed to the available literature this provides a summation of his most influential work.