Fintech PR
Quantstamp Wins First Place at Smart Dubai Global Blockchain Challenge


Quantstamp, a Y Combinator-backed blockchain security company, won first place at the Smart Dubai Global Blockchain Challenge 2019. Organized by Smart Dubai and Dubai Future Accelerators, the Smart Dubai Global Blockchain Challenge is part of the government’s Blockchain Strategy 2020, where blockchain will be used to enhance the quality of life of its citizens.
Smart Dubai is a government office running seven key initiatives in order to make Dubai “…the happiest city on earth through technology innovation.” One of these initiatives is the Dubai Blockchain Strategy, which aims to cement Dubai’sreputation as a global leader in technology innovation and the smart economy. The Dubai Blockchain Strategy also aims to make Dubai the first blockchain-powered city by 2020 and the global capital of blockchain technology.
The core goals of the Dubai Blockchain Strategy include:
- Increasing government efficiency by using blockchain in 100% of applicable government services,
- Creating an active and enabling blockchain ecosystem for startups and businesses, and
- Leading the strategic thinking on the global progress of blockchain technology.
The United Arab Emirates, the national government, also has an aggressive blockchain strategy. By 2021, the UAE aims to record over 50% of government transactions using blockchain technology.
“The United Arab Emirates and the city of Dubai are pioneering the use of blockchain technology to make concrete improvements in the lives of their citizens,” said Richard Ma, CEO of Quantstamp. “Now that Quantstamp has won the Smart Dubai Blockchain Challenge, we will actively engage with our new network in the UAE in an effort to ensure that Quantstamp plays an active role in the implementation and security of their blockchain strategy.”
As one of 20 shortlisted startups, Quantstamp flew to Dubai to pitch its blockchain solutions at the Future Blockchain Summit. In the process, Quantstamp met with investors, networked with government officials, and connected with potential customers.
In his presentation, Quantstamp Head of Business Don Ho discussed why Quantstamp is essential for the mainstream adoption of smart contracts and blockchain technology. Smart contracts act as the back end code of blockchain technology that power most blockchain applications.
Don Ho explained that, although smart contracts experienced exponential growth over the last two years, smart contract security still needs to be addressed. Over the same two year time period, over $350 million USD worth of cryptocurrency was either lost or stolen due to security vulnerabilities in smart contracts. If blockchain security is not addressed, economies will be unable to realize the potential growth enabled by blockchain technology.
Don Ho then described how Quantstamp aims to facilitate the proliferation of blockchain technology by developing tools and services that protect smart contracts throughout their entire lifecycle. Before smart contracts are published, Quantstamp offers full service white glove audits. Leading crypto-native companies like OmiseGO, Chainlink and Sharespost trust Quantstamp to address their security needs.
Quantstamp also offers tools and services that enhance smart contract security post-deployment. Quantstamp’s monitoring tools detect irregular activity and malicious attacks on live smart contracts. Quantstamp is also developing the Assurance Protocol that allows security experts to assure the correct behavior of live smart contracts.
SOURCE Quantstamp
Fintech PR
United Risk Names Amezquita, Cahill to Top Roles as Expansion Meets Market Opportunities, Challenges

Accomplished executives add experience and depth to multiple aspects of complex financial, reinsurance and related operations
NEW YORK, April 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Mr. Jamie Sahara, President, Applied Underwriters, has announced leadership appointments to continue to spur the growth of its United Risk group. Mr. Alex Amezquita has been named CFO of United Risk, succeeding Jay Cahill who has been appointed to head United Risk’s newly formed reinsurance division as its CEO. The appointments, effective immediately, will find Mr. Amezquita as CFO managing the financial operations of United Risk’s many divisions in key insurance, surety, and other specialty areas; Mr. Cahill, in turn, will commence the organization of the new multi-line reinsurance MGA and be set to serve brokers, cedents and other clients in property, casualty, cyber, and credit risk areas underwriting select placements for June, July and October 2025 renewals while establishing fully operational offices in New York, London and Bermuda for January 1, 2026 placements, according to Mr. Sahara.
“These key appointments underline the direction United Risk is taking as our dramatic growth across and within the various sectors we underwrite rapidly continues. We assemble top professional talent, and then we encourage them to lead in the specific area in which their considerable experience, accomplishment, and market intelligence lies,” according to Mr. Sahara, who added: “In Alex Amezquita we have a dynamic, driven financial leader with the serious hands-on experience of running complex businesses, from M&A to managing a global public company. In that same vein, Jay Cahill brings a lot of additional energy to our underwriting team, adding substantially to the combined power of the existing 28 thriving programs. United Risk’s program leaders have driven growth and adapted to actual market changes and challenges quickly and creatively. As the reinsurance market hardens, like our continuing and successful E&S strategy, when it makes sense, we will focus on offering reinsurance rather than insurance. This is a plan that Jay Cahill is uniquely qualified to execute.”
Mr. Amezquita stated: “This is an important opportunity allowing me to engage all of my experience and skills in an organization with strong and disciplined fundamentals that is building ambitiously upon a firm foundation. The future of United Risk is extremely promising, and I am pleased to join the team that will realize it.”
Mr. Cahill noted his personal passion for structuring reinsurance transactions for the benefit of brokers and their clients: “The hard reinsurance market poses challenges together with great opportunities for those with the right resources and a staff with ease and facility in deploying them. This will be the advantage our growing of the United Risk team will deliver.”
Alex Amezquita joins United Risk as CFO having served as CFO of Herbalife; as Senior Vice President at Moelis & Company, a global investment bank; and as a Principal, Centerview Partners, a boutique investment bank.
Jay Cahill, formerly CFO at United Risk, has been named CEO of United Risk’s newly formed multi-line reinsurance MGA. Prior to joining United Risk, Mr. Cahill served as Managing Director, Awbury, from 2021 to 2024, responsible for ceded reinsurance and third-party capital, specialty, professional lines, property retro underwriting and new business development. Prior to that he was global head of credit and financial lines at RenaissanceRe.
About United Risk Global (www.unitedrisk.global)
United Risk Global is an international property and casualty insurance underwriting and distribution platform independently owned and operated by its practice partners and affiliated with Applied Underwriters operationally and through its common and powerful brand identity. United Risk’s home office is located at 50 Rockefeller Plaza in New York.
About Applied Underwriters (www.auw.com)
Applied Underwriters® is a global risk services firm that helps businesses and people manage uncertainty through its business services, insurance and reinsurance solutions. As a company, Applied Underwriters has been distinguished by its innovative approaches to client care and by its strong financial strength. Applied Underwriters operates widely throughout the US, UK, EU and Middle East. Its operational headquarters is located in Omaha, Nebraska.

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/united-risk-names-amezquita-cahill-to-top-roles-as-expansion-meets-market-opportunities-challenges-302427382.html
Fintech PR
NYSE Content Advisory: Pre-Market update: NYSE President reassures U.S. market infrastructure is resilient
NEW YORK, April 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) provides a daily pre-market update directly from the NYSE Trading Floor. Access today’s NYSE Pre-market update for market insights before trading begins.
Kristen Scholer delivers the pre-market update on April 14th
- Policy questions continued over the weekend after comments from President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
- The S&P 500 is up early Monday after tariff adjustments last week led to record volatility on Wall Street.
- NYSE President Lynn Martin recently assured the trading community that the NYSE has, “met the challenge posed by recent volatility.”
Read NYSE President Lynn Martin’s CNBC Op-ed Here
Opening Bell
MSNBC Films, Sky Studios, Paradine Productions, and White Horse Pictures celebrate the upcoming premiere of documentary series, “David Frost Vs.”
Closing Bell
Executives and guests of IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) celebrate World Quantum Day
Download the NYSE TV App and Subscribe Here

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/nyse-content-advisory-pre-market-update-nyse-president-reassures-us-market-infrastructure-is-resilient-302427613.html
Fintech PR
Inveniam Acquires Hedgehog to Build Intelligent Data Infrastructure for Private Markets and Power Scalable Agentic AI

NEW YORK, April 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Inveniam Capital Partners, a leading data management platform for private market assets, today announced the acquisition of Hedgehog Invest Limited, an end-to-end digital platform for real-world asset investment. This strategic move advances Inveniam’s mission to provide the data infrastructure Agentic AI requires to access, scale, and analyze the world’s largest and least-digitized capital markets.
Inveniam and Hedgehog will accelerate AI adoption by transforming fragmented data into verifiable, auditable digital assets—powering automation, real-time pricing, and trusted analytics across tokenized securities, funds, derivatives, and ETFs.
“This acquisition is not about incremental efficiency—it’s about foundational transformation,” said Patrick O’Meara, Chairman and CEO of Inveniam. “With the Hedgehog team—comprised of multidisciplinary professionals with deep expertise in private markets, technology development, and blockchain solutions—we are able to scale our business more quickly. In addition, by integrating their existing infrastructure tools for tokenizing and distributing real-world assets, we are building the rails for digital, crypto, and cloud-based trading of alternative asset classes globally.”
With Hedgehog’s tokenization infrastructure now integrated, Inveniam delivers an AI-ready solution for structuring, trading, and distributing private assets across real estate, private credit, private equity, and infrastructure—bringing automation to traditionally illiquid markets.
“By joining forces with Inveniam, we’re transforming how private market assets are managed and traded,” said Michael Ward, Co-Founder of Hedgehog. “Our combined technologies will redefine the use of private datasets, paving the way for the systematic trading of private market assets,” said Rob Lamb, Co-Founder of Hedgehog.
This partnership addresses four major trends:
- Growth of institutional private markets
- Intelligent edge-based data systems
- Rise of tokenized real-world assets
- AI-powered data orchestration
About Inveniam
Inveniam is a data operating system for private market assets, bringing access, transparency, and trust to asset performance data. The company is building the foundation for scalable AI integration, data marketplaces in private finance, and the systematic trading of private market assets.
About Hedgehog
Hedgehog provides infrastructure for tokenized private asset investments, supporting both primary issuance and secondary trading, democratizing access to private markets through intuitive digital solutions.
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/inveniam-acquires-hedgehog-to-build-intelligent-data-infrastructure-for-private-markets-and-power-scalable-agentic-ai-302427189.html
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